Abstract

Breast cancer among women has reached epidemic proportions in the United States; with current estimates indicating that one woman in eight will develop breast cancer during her lifetime [1]. Breast cancer is also the second leading cause of death for all women. It is estimated that approximately 40,200 women in the US will die from the disease in 2003 [2]. The incidence rate of invasive breast cancer in white women increased by 1.1% each year from 1992 to 1998, most of which was seen in women ages 50-74. The incidence rate in African-American women stayed level during the same period, but some increase was seen among African-American women older than 50. From 1992 to 1998, breast cancer was the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer in women [3-5].
The vast majority (70-95%) of breast tumors are located by the woman herself [6], who in turn will seek confirmation of her findings from her primary health care provider. Although mammography has arguably reduced the breast cancer burden over the last two decades, approximately 17% of cancers appear between screenings [7]. Moreover, mammography has been reported to carry a number of risks, such as false-positive findings, radiation exposure, inconvenience, pain, economic burden, and anxiety [8-15]. In a recent and hotly debated study, Gotzsche and Olsen [15] reported that their review and evaluation of eight randomized mammography trials showed that in none of the trials did mammographic screening decrease overall mortality, although it did lead to more unnecessary surgeries. Miller et al.[16] concluded that in women aged 50-59 years, adding annual …

Date

2004

Authors

Mathieu Desbrun, Linda Hovanessian, Maryalice Jordan-Marsh, Shri Narayanan, Gaurav Sukhatme

Journal

Nat. Sci. Found., CA, USA, NFS Rep