Both the Canadian Breast Cancer Network (CBCN) and the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) have expressed concern over the results of a study that claims breast self-examination offers no benefit to women between the ages of 40 and 69.
Published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the meta-analysis by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care determined that women did not gain any benefit from regular breast self-examinations (BSE) or breast self-examination education compared with no breast self-examination. They also found that significantly higher rates of benign biopsy results among women assigned to learn self-examination than among controls.
Despite the study results, the CCS stands by its recommendations that all women should do monthly breast self-examination, and that women between 50 and 69 should have a mammogram every two years, said Barbara Kaminsky, CEO of the Yukon and British Columbia division of the CCS.
Meanwhile, the CBCN said the study contradicted more than 30 years of evidence regarding the value of breast self-examination for the early detection of breast cancer. In a written statement, Karen DeKonig, CBCN president, warned that this type of information could encourage younger women to forgo BSE.
"The message of this study appears to be that women have no control over or knowledge of their own bodies," she said. "This is a fallacy. Without BSE, younger women are being advised to put all their faith in a general practitioner’s annual exam of the breasts during a physical. This study also implies that women should put implicit faith in mammography alone. Even at best, mammography is not infallible and does not pick up all breast cancers."
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersJune 28, 2001
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Canadian group advises against breast self-examination by middle-aged women, June 28, 2001
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