TY - JOUR
T1 - Screening for breast cancer
T2 - Current recommendations and future directions
AU - Knutson, Doug
AU - Steiner, Elizabeth
N1 - Funding Information:
We want to thank the Academy of Finland and the Slovak Academy of Sciences for the financial support. This work was supported in part by the Royal Society. Computers of the Center for Scientific Computing (CSC) were used in the simulations. In many computer programs the C + + class library ‘blitz’ developed by Todd Veldhuizen was used (http://monet.uwaterloo.ca/blitz)/. Finally we want to thank K.-A. Suominen for reading the preprint and correcting several misprints.
PY - 2007/6/1
Y1 - 2007/6/1
N2 - Breast cancer is one of the most significant health concerns in the United States. Recent reviews have questioned the value of traditional breast cancer screening methods. Breast self-examination has been shown not to improve cancer-specific or all-cause mortality in large studies, but it is commonly advocated as a noninvasive screen. Patients who choose to perform self-examination should be trained in appropriate technique and followup. The contribution of the clinical breast examination to early detection is difficult to determine, but studies show that sensitivity is highly dependent on time taken to do the examination. Up to 10 percent of cancers are mammographically silent but evident on clinical breast examination. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammography for women older than 40 years who are in good health, but physicians should consider that sensitivity is lower for younger women. Digital mammography is somewhat more sensitive in younger women and women with dense breasts, but outcome studies are lacking. Although magnetic resonance imaging shows promise as a screening tool in some high-risk women, it is not currently recommended for general screening because of high false-positive rates and cost. The American Cancer Society recommends annual magnetic resonance imaging as an adjunct to screening mammography in high-risk women 30 years and older.
AB - Breast cancer is one of the most significant health concerns in the United States. Recent reviews have questioned the value of traditional breast cancer screening methods. Breast self-examination has been shown not to improve cancer-specific or all-cause mortality in large studies, but it is commonly advocated as a noninvasive screen. Patients who choose to perform self-examination should be trained in appropriate technique and followup. The contribution of the clinical breast examination to early detection is difficult to determine, but studies show that sensitivity is highly dependent on time taken to do the examination. Up to 10 percent of cancers are mammographically silent but evident on clinical breast examination. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammography for women older than 40 years who are in good health, but physicians should consider that sensitivity is lower for younger women. Digital mammography is somewhat more sensitive in younger women and women with dense breasts, but outcome studies are lacking. Although magnetic resonance imaging shows promise as a screening tool in some high-risk women, it is not currently recommended for general screening because of high false-positive rates and cost. The American Cancer Society recommends annual magnetic resonance imaging as an adjunct to screening mammography in high-risk women 30 years and older.
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M3 - Review article
C2 - 17575656
AN - SCOPUS:34250751841
SN - 0002-838X
VL - 75
SP - 1660
EP - 1666
JO - American family physician
JF - American family physician
IS - 11
ER -