SABCS: Benefits of Screening Mammography Extend Past Age 70

Charles Bankhead
SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 14 -- Women who are 70 or older remain in the prime of life for screening mammography, researchers reported here.A majority of breast masses and calcifications in patients 70 and older were identified by screening versus diagnostic mammography, Neely Hines, M.D., of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. "Our results suggest that screening mammography is beneficial in diagnosing cancers in this population, which represents a growing proportion of the population and has an increased risk of developing breast cancer," said Dr. Hines. "We think older patients and their physicians should request screening mammography."
The American Cancer Society recommends that women continue screening mammography as long as they remain in good health. As life expectancy continues to increase, so will the number of women at risk for breast cancer. The CDC estimates that 70-year-old women of any race have 15.9 more years of life expectancy.
"We believe that continuation of annual screening mammography beyond the age of 70 years will identify clinically occult and earlier-stage cancers that can be successfully treated and possibly prolong survival," said Dr. Hines.
Nonetheless, the pluses and minuses of screening mammography in older women are much debated, she acknowledged.
Dr. Hines and A. Jill Leibman, M.D., retrospectively reviewed records on breast cancer patients ages 70 and older seen at Albert Einstein over eight years. The review identified 37 patients who had a total of 41 malignancies. The patients' mean age was 73.4, and the time since a prior mammography averaged 1.2 years.
In 29 of the 41 (71%), lesions were detected by screening mammography. Mammographic findings consisted of suspicious calcifications in five patients, masses in 21, and mass plus calcification in 15. The average tumor size detected by screening mammography was 1.4 cm versus 3.5 cm for diagnostic mammograms.
The pathology was ductal carcinoma in situ in 11 cases, infiltrating ductal in 28, and invasive lobular in two. Eight of the 11 patients with DCIS were detected by screening mammography. Thirty-four cancers were managed surgically, 21 by lumpectomy, and 14 by mastectomy.
Neither Dr. Hines nor Dr. Leibman had disclosures.
Primary source: Breast Cancer Research and TreatmentSource reference:Hines N, Leibman A, "Breast cancer in the elderly: benefits of screening mammography in diagnosis" Breast Cancer Res Treat 2007; 106(Supp1): S54. Abstract 1039.