Prevent Disease.com - Study Suggests More Frequent Breast Exams Needed



		Study Suggests More Frequent Breast Exams Needed Women who carry a genetic mutation linked to a higher risk of breast cancer often are at advanced stages of the disease months before they go to the doctor for an annual screening, according to a new U.S. study. The finding by researchers at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York suggests more frequent mammograms and ultrasound screening may be needed for the small percentage of women who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. These genetic markers, which are more common among Ashkenazi Jews, account for between 5 percent and 10 percent of the estimated 180,000 breast cancer cases diagnosed in the United States each year. Carriers have a 60 percent to 85 percent lifetime risk of contracting the disease, which kills about 44,000 women in the United States each year. In their study of 13 women aged 32 to 59 with these genes, researchers at Columbia-Presbyterian found six had developed breast cancers detected in between their annual mammograms. The average time that had elapsed since their last annual screening was about five months, and four of the six had already developed relatively advanced cancers that had spread to their lymph nodes. "We feel that (every) 12 months definitely is not adequate screening for women with these genetic mutations," said Dr. Ian Komenaka, a breast surgeon and lead author of the study, published on Monday in the online edition of the American Cancer Society journal Cancer. "It looks like it needs to be every six months if not every four months," Komenaka said. Mammography, a special type of X-ray imaging used to create detailed images of a breast, is the primary method of screening for breast cancer in the United States. In 1997, the National Cancer Institute recommended women 40 years and older have this exam every one to two years. While many researchers credit regularly scheduled mammograms for helping reduce breast cancer mortality in women over the age of 50, the role and frequency of the practice remains a controversial subject. A study by Swedish researchers four years ago suggested the average woman did not gain any survival benefit from having regular mammograms. Reference Source 89 For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".