Older women benefit from continuing regular mammograms

Image courtesy RSNA

CANCER DIGEST – Nov. 24, 2018 – Women 75 and older continue to benefit from mammograms according to a new study that will be presented this week at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting in Chicago.

In the study, Dr. Stamatia Destounis and colleagues analyzed data from 763,256 screening mammography exams at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care between 2007 and 2017.

Breast cancer was diagnosed in 3,944 patients. When they looked at additional data about the group, they categorized the number and type of cancers diagnosed among women 75 years of age and older.

There were 76,885 patients (10 percent) age 75 and older included in the study. The average age of these patients was 80.4. A total of 645 malignancies were diagnosed in 616 patients, for a cancer rate of 8.4 detections per 1,000 exams in this age group.

When they broke down the numbers the results showed that women 75 and older made up 16 percent of all patients diagnosed with mammography. Researchers also found that 82 percent of the malignancies diagnosed were invasive cancers, of which 63 percent were grade 2 or 3, which grow and spread more quickly. Ninety-eight percent of the cancers were found early enough to to be treated surgically. Positive lymph nodes were reported at surgical excision in 7 percent of the patients.

The results add to the controversy about whether older women should continue regular mammography screening that was sparked by the US Preventive Services Task Force 2009 guidelines that concluded there was not enough evidence to assess the benefits and harms of screening older women.

Source: RSNA 2018 press release