Annual Over Biennial (every other year) Mammograms Linked to Less Advanced Breast Cancer
University of Michigan Health
Nicole Fawcett November 26, 2019 10:40 AM
How often should women get a mammogram? A new study makes a case for getting screened every year instead of every other year. Women diagnosed with breast cancer after receiving yearly mammograms had smaller tumors and less-advanced disease than women who had mammograms every other year, researchers from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found.
The researchers reviewed breast cancer patient records and identified 232 women who were diagnosed between ages 40-84, the age range for which mammography is recommended. Most women, 86%, had annual mammograms, while 14% had a mammogram every other year.
“Our study found that screening mammography performed once a year resulted in less advance stage disease in patients diagnosed with breast cancer,” says study author Sarah Moorman, M.D., a radiology resident at Michigan Medicine. “These results may help women make informed decisions about the frequency of breast cancer screening.” Moorman will present the study results Dec. 4 at the Radiological Society of North America Annual Meeting.
While the value of mammography in detecting breast cancer is widely accepted among professional societies and government agencies, there’s disagreement about how frequently women should be screened.
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