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Semiannual mammographic surveillance of women who receive post-breast conservation therapy (or “lumpectomy”) for the treatment of breast cancer allows physicians to detect recurrences at an earlier stage, potentially saving the lives of some women.

A lumpectomy is the standard of care for treating women with early stage breast cancer. It is proven to be just as effective as a mastectomy, but much less invasive. “Unfortunately, neither approach cures all women,” said the authors of the study.

About 10-20 percent of women will go on to develop a recurrence of the first tumor or a new second primary cancer after a lumpectomy. “Those with a recurrence or a new second primary cancer have up to a 300 percent increased risk of dying from it. Thus, adequate surveillance for recurrence through mammography and clinical exam is important,” said the authors. However, most institutions monitor these women yearly and this may be too conservative because cancer organizations also currently recommend screening low-risk women from the general population every year.

“Our study, performed at the University of California, San Francisco, included 7,140 exams that were compliant with our semiannual protocol and 1,065 that were considered to represent annual follow-up. Cancers identified at semiannual surveillance were less advanced than those identified during annual surveillance. Invasive cancers identified at semiannual surveillance also tended to be smaller and lymph-node negative,” said the authors.

“Our study is the first to provide hard evidence that there may be a benefit to semiannual mammography screening of post-lumpectomy patients. Semiannual surveillance detects recurrences at an earlier stage, when the tumor is more likely smaller and has yet to spread to the adjacent lymph nodes, which can increase ones chance of survival,” said the authors.

This study was presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Source: ARRS

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