A five-year study, called Mammo-50, that followed women aged 50 and older with a breast cancer diagnosis and surgery has been published in The Lancet. This research, funded by National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), shows that follow up surveillance with less frequent mammograms put the patients at no greater risk and could reduce the stress of waiting for results.
Led by Professor Janet Dunn, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, The University of Warwick and sponsored by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, the Mammo-50 trial is the first major study to investigate the safest, most effective monitoring of women after surgery. Focusing on women aged 50 with early-stage breast cancer (that has not spread beyond breast tissue or local lymph nodes), the trial followed their progress across 114 NHS hospitals over five years.
Three years after breast surgery, 5,235 women, who were cancer-free at the point of enrolling in the study, were invited to either yearly or less-frequent mammograms (every two years for patients who had a lumpectomy and every three years for patients who had a mastectomy). The results show there is no difference between the groups of patients in terms of their breast cancer reoccurring or their survival.
Professor Janet Dunn said: “Less frequent mammographic surveillance decreases the inconvenience for women having to undergo unnecessary mammograms, reducing the associated stress of waiting for results whilst also reducing the strain on the NHS.”
Different cancer centres offer different forms of follow up, with no gold-standard guideline for monitoring women post-surgery. Mammo-50 is the first major study to look at this and present evidence that could be used to amend guidelines on mammographic surveillance for this patient group. Less frequent mammograms have the potential to reduce NHS costs and workload, and reduce stress for patients waiting for scan results.