Breast Self-Exams Questioned

There has been a lot of conflicting information recently about the value of screening for breast cancer with a new study concluding that breast self-examination does not reduce risk of death from breast cancer. The Early Show Medical Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay reports.

"A new study in the journal of the National Cancer Institute found that women who examined their own breasts were unable to reduce their risk of dying from breast cancer by detecting the tumors themselves," says Dr. Senay. "The researchers found almost no difference in the rate of death from breast cancer between those trained in breast self-exam and those who were not trained."

Among the group of women who did breast self-exams, 135 women died of breast cancer. 131 women died in the group that was not trained.

The study followed more than 260,000 women in Shanghai, China, for more than 10 years.

"This should not deter women from seeking help if they're concerned about finding a lump in their breast," says Dr. Senay. "There are no new recommendations that say women should not regularly examine their own breasts for suspicious lumps. But the researchers who did the study said that women should have realistic expectations about the value of the exams."

Potential benefits of breast self-exams:

"There's no harm in being aware of changes in your body. But you need learn how to do a self-exam properly, and realize that it does not replace a regular visit to the doctor for screening and a check-up by a professional," says Dr. Senay.

Drawbacks to breast self-exams:

"This study does raise questions about the time and expense it takes to teach self-examination to women, and the risk of undergoing an invasive biopsy that may result in a false positive result that could result in unnecessary anxiety and treatment," she says.

Those who do self-exams often find suspicious lumps that prove to be harmless, Dr. Senay said. The result is that these women undergo many more biopsies.

Why is it so difficult to determine whether or not breast cancer screening is beneficial?

Dr. Senay says "in theory, finding breast cancer early should mean that you can treat it earlier and improve your chances of survival. But there's still a lot we don't know about breast cancer.

"Some forms of breast cancer are more aggressive than others. Advances in our understanding of genetics will hopefully add to our ability to accurately diagnose and treat the different types of breast cancer, along with further study of the effectiveness of screening.," she says.

" Breast cancer death rates are declining, and there's no way of knowing for sure why. But there's not enough evidence yet to say that current screening methods are not part of the equation."