Breast Self-Exams May Not Cut Cancer Deaths

(July 17, 2008) - It is a staple of women's health advice and visits to the OB/GYN: the monthly breast self-exam (Read about "Breast Self-Examination") to check for lumps or other changes that might signal breast cancer. (Read about "Breast Cancer") However, a review of some recent studies claims there is little evidence that self-exams actually reduce breast cancer deaths.

The new review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research.

The researchers claim the practice may be doing more harm than good, since it led to almost twice as many biopsies that turned up no cancer in women who performed the self-exams, compared to women who did not do the exams.

In the two large studies of 388,535 women in Russia and China included in the review, women who used self-breast exams had 3,406 biopsies, compared with 1,856 biopsies in the group that did not do the exams. At the same time, there was no significant difference in breast cancer deaths between the two groups.

The authors of the report recognize that some women will want to continue with breast self-exams and women should always "seek medical advice if they detect any change in their breasts that might be breast cancer," Jan Peter Kosters, Ph.D., one of the authors said.

"We suggest that the lack of supporting evidence should be discussed with these women to enable them to make an informed decision," he said.

Other cancer researchers say they encourage women to do the self-exams if they are comfortable with them, noting that 50 percent to 60 percent of women detect their own breast masses.

"I think what we are seeing is that women are familiar with their breast through breast self-exam and when there is a lump, they notice the difference," they said.