Cancer Society endorses mammograms, moves away from self-exams.

2003 JUN 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Mammograms remain the most important tool in detecting breast cancer and women need not worry about performing breast self-exams, the American Cancer Society says.

The Atlanta-based society updated its breast cancer guidelines for the first time since 1997. More research has confirmed the society's 1997 recommendation for women to receive mammograms annually from age 40.

"A lot of women were reading a year or so ago that some people were not sure whether mammography had any benefit," said Debbie Saslow, the society's director of breast and gynecologic cancers.

"The level of confidence in the benefit is higher than ever. Mammograms find 80-85% of cancers - we know they increase survival dramatically."

The largest change in the guidelines involves the breast self-exam, which previously was recommended once a month. But research has found the exams did not contribute to breast cancer survival rates.

Where mammograms typically find cancers that have grown for 2 years, self-exams typically detect cancer that has been growing for 6 years, Saslow said.

"We don't have evidence that doing it every month is having any survival benefit," she said. "For us it's not a huge change as a lot of people weren't doing breast self-exams anyway. To the public it probably is a big change."