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Breast cancer testing prevents deaths, long-term study finds

Category: Breast

Breast cancer testing has long been thought of as the most effective way for women to reduce their risk of dying from the disease and a new study from a team of British researchers has confirmed this belief.

After studying more than 130,000 women for up to 29 years, investigators from Queen Mary, University of London found that individuals who received regular breast cancer testing were 30 percent less likely to die from the disease.

The results showed that one death was prevented for every 400 to 500 women who received breast cancer testing.

This is among the first studies to assess the precise benefits of regular breast cancer testing over a long period of time, something that is important, as the researchers said that the disease can sometimes take many years to seriously affect a woman.

"Unfortunately, we cannot know for certain who will and who won't develop breast cancer," said Stephen Duffy, who led the investigation. "But if you take part in screening and you are diagnosed with breast cancer at an early stage, the chances that it will be successfully treated are very good."