| Though many woman dread that yearly | | | | There were no obvious differences between the |
| mammogram, we've all heard often enough that early | | | | two groups, and since that all important cumulative |
| detection of breast cancer saves lives... finding lumps | | | | incidence of cancer in the control group never |
| when they're too small to feel and before they get a | | | | reached, even after one time screening, the |
| chance to grow and spread gives you the best | | | | mammography screened group of subjects, it lends |
| chance for a cure. | | | | support to the idea that some cancers found on |
| Or does it? | | | | repeat scans wouldn't show up on a single scan at |
| A recent study of mammography screening for | | | | the end of six years. |
| breast cancer found that some invasive cancers | | | | The study authors note, "This raises the possibility |
| might spontaneously regress over time, leaving no | | | | that the natural course of some screen-detected |
| sign that they were ever present in a woman's body. | | | | invasive breast cancers is to spontaneously regress." |
| This leaves us to question if breast cancer is over | | | | Perhaps as many as one in five cancers detected by |
| diagnosed, and therefore over treated. | | | | mammogram might, in fact, spontaneously resolve. |
| The research, conducted by Norwegian scientists, | | | | And since two out of three breast cancer tumors |
| used 119,472 female subjects aged 50 to 64 years, | | | | are estrogen driven, the drop off of the hormone as |
| who underwent three rounds of mammography (one | | | | women age and go through menopause suggests |
| mammogram every two years) from 1996 to 2001 | | | | that cancer cells are naturally starved of the very |
| as part of the Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening | | | | hormone they need to grow and thrive. |
| Program. | | | | The tumors might disappear altogether or shrink and |
| The cancer rates in this group were compared with | | | | lie dormant. The discontinuation of hormone |
| the cancer rates of 109,784 control subjects who | | | | replacement therapy (HRT) as a treatment for |
| would have been screened if the program existed | | | | menopausal symptoms and the dramatic decrease in |
| back in 1992. The control subjects were invited to | | | | breast cancer rates lends fuel to the idea that |
| have a one-time mammogram at the end of the | | | | hormones may fuel the growth of some cancers. |
| observation period. | | | | While this study is absolutely not a recommendation |
| The team had expected that no matter when they | | | | to skip your yearly mammogram, it does raise an |
| were detected, the number of breast cancer tumors | | | | intriguing question about cancers that may resolve |
| would ultimately be the same between the regularly | | | | themselves... without our ever knowing or treating |
| screened group and the never screened controls. | | | | them. |
| As the researchers expected, the 4-year cumulative | | | | "If the spontaneous remission hypothesis is credible, |
| incidence of invasive breast cancer in the screened | | | | it could cause a major reevaluation in the approach to |
| group was higher than in the non-screened control | | | | breast cancer research and treatment," says cancer |
| group - 1268 vs. 810 cases per one thousand women. | | | | expert Dr. Robert M. Kaplan of the University of |
| However, the surprise finding of the research was | | | | California, Los Angeles, and Dr. Franz Porzsolt, from |
| that even after the one time mammography was | | | | the University of Ulm, Germany in a related story |
| given to the previously unscreened control group, the | | | | that appeared with the study. |
| six year cumulative incidence of breast cancer in the | | | | In effect, it could in the future lead to an approach |
| mammography screened group was still higher - 1909 | | | | that is already used for a well known cancer in men, |
| vs. 1564 cases per one thousand women. | | | | prostate cancer, where a "Watchful Waiting" |
| The study authors couldn't explain this. | | | | approach is sometimes advised. |