The Lancet: Earlier Diagnosis, Better Treatment for Breast Cancer is Saving Lives
Earlier diagnosis through mammography is a factor in the dramatic improvement in the 15-year survival rate during the 1990s among breast cancer patients, according to a study in the British medical journal, The Lancet.1
The study said that earlier diagnosis-resulting partly from mammography screening-along with wider use of improved therapies during the decade of the 80's contributed substantially to the decreases of 25-30% in US and UK breast cancer mortality rates among middle-aged women during the 1990's. The Lancet report said that wider screening and better treatments are also contributing to reductions that are now becoming apparent in a number of other countries.
According to the study, these same trends over the past two decades "may well mean that by 2010 the national breast cancer death rates in middle age [women] will, in many countries, be only about half of what they would otherwise have been."
The study was a meta-analyses, or review, of 194 randomized trials of chemotherapy or hormonal therapy that began in 1995 or before.
1 "Effects of Chemotherapy and Hormonal Therapy for Early Breast Cancer on Recurrence and 15-year Survival: An Overview of the Randomised Trials," Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG), The Lancet, Vol 365, May 14, 2005, pp1687-1717
|
The Lancet: Earlier Diagnosis, Better Treatment for Breast Cancer is Saving Lives
site by netcraftmedia.com