Mammograms vital for cancer survivors

“We found that mammography screening through the BreastScreen WA program was associated with a higher detection rate of breast cancer for women with a personal history of breast cancer (PHBC) than for women without”, the authors of the study said, highlighting both the capability of mammography to detect breast cancer, and the higher breast cancer risk, in PHBC women.

The study showed that mammography screening detected second breast cancers in breast cancer survivors that were “predominantly smaller than 2 cm and node-negative”, lead author Associate Professor Nehmat Houssami from the University of Sydney and colleagues from BS WA said.

“Our findings support the role of mammography screening for PHBC women, and support allowing these women (in target age groups for screening) to have nationally consistent access to mammography screening through BreastScreen”, Professor Houssami said, although this would require careful  monitoring of interval cancers in PHBC women.

The  policy on screening breast cancer survivors in Australia is inconsistent, in part due to a lack of data. This study is the first Australian report of screening in these women.

The retrospective study involved more than 700 000 screening mammograms from two groups of women — those who had previously had breast cancer and those who had not — who participated in the BreastScreen WA program in Western Australia between 1997 and 2006. BreastScreen WA has granted breast cancer survivors access to breast screening since its statewide implementation in 1995.

Screening detected 4125 breast cancers. The cancer detection rate was significantly higher in the breast cancer survivors, at 95.5 per 10 000 screens for all age groups compared with 57.2 per 10 000 screens in women with no history of breast cancer.

“The characteristics of cancers detected in PHBC women were generally consistent with early-detected cancers, and, except for tumour grade, were similarly distributed to those of cancers detected in women without PHBC”, the authors said.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

The statements or opinions that are expressed in the MJA  reflect the views of the authors and do not represent the official policy of the AMA unless that is so stated.

CONTACTS:            Associate Professor Nehmat Houssami                     0419 273 510