The BSE advantage / Response

We believe that the disadvantages of BSE practice must be borne in mind by all concerned. First, as the results of our study suggest, BSE is not a simple procedure. Simply performing BSE did not result in a lower risk of death from breast cancer. This benefit was limited to women who included 3 spec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Medical Association journal (CMAJ) 1998-02, Vol.158 (4), p.471
Main Authors: Sterns, Ernest E, Harvey, Bart J, Miller, Anthony B, Baines, Cornelia J, Corey, Paul N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Breast cancer
Cancer
Testing
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Summary:We believe that the disadvantages of BSE practice must be borne in mind by all concerned. First, as the results of our study suggest, BSE is not a simple procedure. Simply performing BSE did not result in a lower risk of death from breast cancer. This benefit was limited to women who included 3 specific components in their BSE: visual examination of the breasts, use of the finger pads for palpation and breast examination with the 3 middle fingers. It is unfortunate that recent reviews of BSE have tended to be based on either poorly designed observational studies or premature results from randomized controlled trials conducted in populations at low risk for breast cancer. We agree that physicians should encourage patients who are more than 40 years of age to conduct monthly BSE and would add that this encouragement should be combined with a careful clinical exmaination of the patients' breasts, in which the specific components contributing to good BSE practice are carefully taught and then periodically assessed and reinforced.
ISSN:0820-3946
1488-2329