Annual post-breast cancer mammograms urged

Published: July 25, 2007 at 9:33 AM

BOSTON, July 25 (UPI) -- Older U.S. women who get yearly mammograms after treatment for early-stage breast cancer are less likely to die from the disease.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, examined five years of follow-up on almost 2,000 patients age 65 and older with stage I and II breast cancer.

"Our large study, with nearly complete follow-up, shows that regular post-therapy surveillance lowers the rate of death from breast cancer," lead author, Timothy Lash, of Boston University School of Public Health, said in a statement.

An important finding of this study is that not all older women who are breast cancer survivors are receiving annual mammograms, according Dr. Rebecca Silliman, of Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health.

Experts agree that all breast cancer survivors with no symptoms should get yearly "surveillance" mammography routinely, regardless of their age. "Screening" mammography is for women who have never had breast cancer and "diagnostic" mammography is for those with symptoms.

© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
Business spending for some is on hold (19 min)
Korean 'DMZ' water focused on positives (22 min)
Crosby takes NHL top weekly honor (25 min)
Woman finds 'Jesus' on bottom of iron (28 min)
UPI Sports Calendar for Monday, Nov. 30 (32 min)
Big 12's Kansas, Texas are 1-2 in poll (33 min)
Developer buries plan for urn repository (36 min)
fark
Ready-for-Fark headline: "Drive-by gooseing in North Mankato park"
Man tells cops he's wearing nylons and making sexual gestures to passing vehicles because the meth...
Man 'walking like Frankenstein' says 'hemmer, hammer hammer' while smashing TVs inside Target
Welcome to the best month for recycling. No, not white elephant gifts, but crap that passes for...
IPCC's new plan for saving us all from Global Warming floods: Build a huge Stone Wall. Yep thats...
FAA grounds 130 Boeing 777s over risk of icing up and causing midair engine shut-downs. Just kidding....