The BreastScreen Australia Program is now detecting more small
cancers in women with no symptoms of cancer, according to
Breast cancer size and nodal status, a report released
today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the
iSource National Breast Cancer Centre.
Head of the Institute's Health Registers and Cancer Monitoring
Unit, Mr John Harding, said that almost 10,400 new cases of
invasive breast cancer in women in Australia in 1997 were analysed
for the report. Of these, 3,072 (30%) were detected by the
BreastScreen Australia mammography program.
The majority of the cancers detected by BreastScreen Australia
(60%) were small-less than 15 millimetres in diameter. Screening
also detected 223 cases of relatively large cancers of 30
millimetres or more in size (7% of cases).
Senior Epidemiologist at the iSource National Breast Cancer
Centre, Dr Anne Kricker said early diagnosis improved the chances
of effective treatment.
'It's encouraging to see that BreastScreen Australia is
detecting so many cancers that are not easily found by women or
their doctors before the cancers become larger and not as easy to
treat effectively.'
BreastScreen Australia is a Commonwealth-State funded public
health program that offers free population-based breast cancer
screening to eligible women. Women in the target age group 50-69
years are actively recruited to participate in the Program. Women
aged 40-49 years and over 70 years are also able to access
screening.
Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women, with
around 10,500 new cases and 2,500 deaths in Australia each year.
Currently less than 60% of women in the 50-69 years target age
group are screened at least every two years-the recommended
screening interval.
The report found that 2,657 women aged 50-69 years were
diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 outside of the BreastScreen
Australia program. Of this group, relatively fewer women had
smaller cancers less than 15mm in size (38%) and more had larger
cancers 30mm or more in size (21%) compared with women diagnosed
through the BreastScreen program.
The report, Breast cancer size and nodal status is
jointly funded by the iSource National Breast Cancer Centre and the
Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.
26 November 2001
Further information: John Harding, AIHW, tel.
02 6244 1140 (bh), 02 6248 6905 (ah). Anne Kricker, National Breast
Cancer Centre, 0407 952 649
Media copies of the report: Publications Officer,
AIHW, 02 6244 1032. Debra Lee, Communications Manager, National
Breast Cancer Centre, tel. 02 9334 1713.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability.