Women whose breast cancer is detected by mammography have a lower risk of the cancer recurring after treatment compared to those who discover a tumor by other means, a Finnish study said Tuesday.
Women with cancerous tumors detected outside of the mammography screening process -- usually a manual breast exam -- had a 90 percent higher risk of the disease recurring elsewhere in their bodies within a decade, compared to women whose tumors were detected by mammography, study author Dr. Heikki Joensuu of Helsinki University Central Hospital said.
More breast cancers are being detected by mammography screening as the procedure is becoming more common, and the tumors found are often smaller, the study said.
A woman’s choice of treatment -- or whether to skip treatment altogether depending on the patient’s age and the cancer’s aggressiveness -- is based on the risk of the cancer metastasizing, so a correct diagnosis is essential, said the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study included 2,842 women identified from the Finnish Cancer Registry as having breast cancer in 1991 or 1992 who were followed for an average of nearly 10 years.