A new study conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) asserts that mammography screening can help reduce the risk of death from breast cancer by as much as 40 percent in women between the ages of 50 and 69 years old.
Researchers from the World Health Organization's cancer agency analyzed data collected from 11 randomized controlled trials as well as 40 observational studies made by experts from 16 different countries. Their goal was to assess both the positive and negative effects of various methods for screening breast cancer in patients.
Aside from confirming that 50- to 69-year-old women benefit the most from mammography screening, the study also showed a significant reduction in risk of breast cancer death among 70- to 74-year-old women who have undergone screening.
The researchers, however, found only limited evidence pertaining to breast cancer screening for women in their 40s.
"This important analysis will hopefully reassure women around the world that breast screening with mammography saves lives," Stephen Duffy, a professor at London's Queen Mary University and one of the experts involved in the study, said.
Duffy recommends that further studies be made on alternative methods for screening such as digital breast tomosynthesis. In this method, three-dimensional imaging is used to carefully analyze dense breast tissue and provide more accurate screening results.
"It is also vital we continue researching the most effective ways of screening women at high risk of breast cancer due to family history or genetic status," Duffy added.
"We need further evidence to fine- tune services offered to high risk women in terms of different screening methods, from an earlier age and possibly at shorter intervals."
The effectiveness of breast cancer screening has been the subject of debate in recent years, with several groups claiming that it leads to "overdiagnosis."
These groups argue that while screening correctly identified tumors in the body, most of the time these tumors do not pose an immediate threat to the patient's health. The diagnosis would open up possibilities for healthy women to unnecessarily undergo treatments, such hormone therapy, surgery, hormone therapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The findings of the IARC study support the National Health Service's (NHS) recommendation for women between the ages of 50 and 69 years old to be screened for breast cancer every three years.
The NHS estimates that mammography screening saves 1,300 lives a year from breast cancer in the United Kingdom.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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