Detection of Breast Cancer on Screening Mammography Allows Patients to Be Treated with Less-Toxic Therapy

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Abstract
OBJECTIVE. Therapy for breast cancer is accompanied by acute and chronic toxicity. Little research has been conducted to determine the impact of the mode of breast cancer detection on the likelihood of receiving different types of treatment. The objective of this study was to determine whether detection of breast cancer on screening mammography is associated with less-toxic therapy.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study group for this retrospective cohort study consisted of 992 women with invasive breast cancer detected on screening mammography (n = 460) or at physical examination (n = 532) at a single institution between 1990 and 2001. To address the generalizability of study findings, we compared the characteristics of study participants with those diagnosed with breast cancer in a population-based mammography registry.RESULTS. The patients whose breast cancer was detected on screening mammography more frequently had lymph nodes free of metastases (84% vs 58%, p < 0.0001), had smaller tumors (1.5 vs 2.9 cm, p...