Breast cancer demonstrated by routine screening associated with better outcomes

Breast cancer demonstrated by routine screening associated with better outcomes

Researchers have found that patients with breast cancer detected through routine screening mammographyRadiology: imaging cancera Journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

While it is well known that early detection of breast cancer leads to better patient outcomes, national cancer registries in the United States and Canada do not track the method of cancer detection.

Because improvements in patient outcomes may be erroneously attributed solely to treatment advances, determining the relationship between breast cancer detection method and clinical outcomes may have a direct impact on healthcare policy.

I observed a marked difference in the way breast cancers were identified in my clinical practice. I found that many women under 50 and older than 75 were diagnosed based on symptomatic presentation. “

Jean M. Seely, MD, FRCPC, senior study author, professor in the department of radiology at the University of Ottawa and head of the breast imaging department at the Ottawa Hospital in Ontario, Canada

In a retrospective observational analysis, Dr. Seely and colleagues data from patients aged 40 and over who were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016.

Of the 821 patients included in the study, 50.1% had breast cancer diagnosed as a result of a symptom rather than as a result of a screening mammogram.

Compared to patients with symptom-detected breast cancer, patients with screen-detected breast cancer had significantly lower odds of advanced breast cancer, lower odds of mastectomy, and lower death ratio.

Breast cancers detected from symptoms were more common in women aged 40 to 49 years and over 75 years, 72.9% and 70.4%, respectively. Overall deaths were also higher among patients who did not undergo regular checkups. What was most surprising was how many patients died shortly after their breast cancer was discovered, Dr. Seely.

“Within just 6.7 years of follow-up, nearly 20% of the 821 breast cancer patients had died, half of them from breast cancer,” said Dr. Seely. “The patients whose breast cancers were detected based on symptoms were 63% more likely to die.”

Researchers concluded that reducing barriers to breast cancer screening among women ages 40 to 74 will improve patient outcomes and reduce patient deaths from cancer. Women over 75 years of age may also benefit from screening, as these patients were more likely to be diagnosed based on symptoms and require more intensive treatment.

In 2024, the United States Task Force (USPSTF) updated its breast cancer screening guidelines and recommended that women ages 40 to 75 years of average risk undergo breast cancer screening every two years. The Canadian Preventive Health Care Task Force recommends that women aged 50 to 74 at average risk undergo breast cancer screening every two to three years.

“The results of this study will likely support the move to reduce the age of breast cancer to 40 in the United States and Canada,” said Dr. Seely. “We have lowered the screening age in many provincial and territorial screening programs in Canada and want to build a single national policy for screening.”

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