Annual mammograms greatly reduce the risk of
mastectomy following breast cancer for women ages 40-50, researchers in London found.
Lead author Nicholas M. Perry, director of The London Breast Institute at The Princess Grace Hospital in London, says the American Cancer Society recommends annual mammography screening for U.S. women beginning at age 40, but last year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended changing the guidelines to begin screening biennially at age 50.
There are no routine screening guidelines for women age 50 and under in Britain.
Perry and colleagues reviewed clinical data on women ages 40-50 diagnosed with breast cancer and treated at The London Breast Institute.
Between 2003 to 2009, 971 women had been diagnosed with breast cancer, 40 percent of them under age 50, and 156 of the women completing treatment at the center. Of those who were treated women, 73 percent had no prior mammograms.
Forty-two women had been previously screened with mammography and 29 of them had at least one mammogram within the previous two years. Of those, 16 women had a mammogram one year prior.
"We reviewed the records of the women needing mastectomy to determine whether or not they had undergone mammography the previous year," Perry says in a statement. "We were surprised at the degree of benefit obtained from yearly screening in this age group."
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.