Cancer

HHS HealthBeat

(December 28, 2009)

Life, death and mammograms

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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Jeff Levine with HHS HealthBeat.

The best way to treat breast cancer is to spot it early and remove it. The most effective way to spot it early in most women is the mammogram. And a look at breast cancer deaths has the numbers to back it up.

Blake Cady, an emeritus professor at Harvard Medical School who’s on the staff of Cambridge Breast Center, checked data on the outcomes of almost 7,000 cases of breast cancers that had not spread.

[Blake Cady speaks] ``Seventy-five percent of the deaths occurred in the 20 percent of women who were not in regular screening programs, while only 25 percent of the deaths occurred in women who were getting regularly screened.’’

Cady says it’s another argument for regular screening.

The study presented at the ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Jeff Levine.

Last revised: December, 28 2009

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