OT but very important!! Breast cancer screening study suggests some tumours may cure themselves

[Guest guest]

What Doctor's Don't Tell You published a lead article on this topic at least

four years ago - but as always the orthodoxy take so long to catch up!!

Iirc, their article suggested that around 80% of DCIS tumours would

self-heal without interference.... If this is true, how many women have

sacrificed their breasts needlessly....?

http://www.wddty

com/03363800372508642313/cancer-when-it-isn-t-a-killer-dcis-precancer-benign-

ancer-or-what.html

http://www.wddty.com/03363800370428892600/when-it-s-not-cancer-at-all.html

http://www.wddty.com/03363800372156234904/when-it-isn-t-a-killer.html

http://www.wddty

com/03363800369973073994/breast-cancer-and-now-the-good-news.html

And there's a lot more for anyone wanting to spend some time browsing...

Sue x

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http://www.telegraph.co

uk/health/healthnews/3512316/Breast-cancer-screening-study-suggests-some-tumo

rs-may-cure-themselves.html

Breast cancer screening study suggests some tumours may cure themselves

Screening women for breast cancer may lead to unnecessary treatment as some

cancers will disappear on their own, researchers have suggested.

By , Medical Editor

Last Updated: 8:21PM GMT 24 Nov 2008

Doctors found more cancers amongst women who were screened every two years

compared to those screened once in six years, raising the possibility that

some cancers vanish on their own.

This means that some women are going through painful and upsetting treatment

often involving surgery and chemotherapy, for a cancer that would have gone

away on it own had it not been detected.

The study was carried out using data from 120,000 women who were screened

three times between 1996 and 2001 and compared the number of cancers

detected to those found in 110,000 women of the same age who were screened

once in six years.

After taking account of various factors that could influence rates of breast

cancer, they found the rate of breast cancer in the frequently-screened

group remained 22 per cent higher.

Of every 100,000 screened women, 1,909 had breast cancer during the six-year

period, compared with 1,564 of every 100,000 in the control group. Screened

women were more likely to have breast cancer at every age.

The study is published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Author Dr Per-Henrik Zahl, of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo

wrote: " Because the cumulative incidence among controls never reached that

of the screened group, it appears that some breast cancers detected by

repeated mammographic screening would not persist to be detectable by a

single mammogram at the end of six years.

" This raises the possibility that the natural course of some screen-detected

invasive breast cancers is to spontaneously regress.

" Although many clinicians may be sceptical of the idea, the excess incidence

associated with repeated mammography demands that spontaneous regression be

considered carefully.

" Spontaneous regression of invasive breast cancer has been reported, with a

recent literature review identifying 32 reported cases. This is a relatively

small number given such a common disease. However, as some observers have

pointed out, the fact that documented observations are rare does not mean

that regression rarely occurs. It may instead reflect the fact that these

cancers are rarely allowed to follow their natural course. "

Dr Zahl said the findings do not dispute that breast screening saves lives.

He wrote: " Instead, our findings simply provide new insight on what is

arguably the major harm associated with mammographic screening, namely, the

detection and treatment of cancers that would otherwise regress. "

In an accompanying commentary Dr Kaplan, of the University of

California, Los Angeles, and Dr Franz Porzsolt, of Clincal Economics

University of Ulm, Germany, said the study is not perfect but it has been

well conducted and raises issues that need further investigation.

They said tumours that cause the patient no ill health is well known in

prostate and other cancers and it is known that some women die with a breast

cancer tumour but were never diagnosed and did not die from the disease.

They wrote: " Despite the appeal of early detection of breast cancer,

uncertainty about the value of mammography continues.

" Perhaps the most important concern raised by the study by Zahl et al is

that it highlights how surprisingly little we know about what happens to

untreated patients with breast cancer. "

In the UK women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for screening every three

years at an annual cost of £75m in England.

It was set up in 1988 and so far 19m women have been screened and 117,000

cancers detected.

Each year around 45,500 women are diganosed with breast cancer along with

300 men. Around 12,300 women and 70 men die from breast cancer each year.

Winder, Deputy Director of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes said:

“In 2002 the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research

on Cancer (IARC) concluded that mammography screening for breast cancer

reduces mortality.

“The UK experience is that long intervals between screenings are

characterised by large numbers of symptomatic cancers, bigger tumours and

poorer survival rates. Very early breast cancer that is still at 'in situ’

stage sometimes remains harmless however, in around 50% of cases it can

progress rapidly over a year or so and develop into a highly aggressive

cancer.

“To help women make an informed choice about whether or not to come for breast

screening, all eligible women now receive a leaflet, 'Breast Screening-THE

FACTS’ with their invitation. The leaflet explains the benefits and limitations

of breast screening.”