Because these stages of the disease are at early forms of development, they are almost exclusively diagnosed by screening either mammography or clinical breast examination. Patterns of breast cancer occurrence predict that if screening caught all these cancers at an early stage, screening for one year in California would have saved 8,764 lives. Another 5,484 lives would be saved as a result of successful treatments. But current screening methods cannot detect all of these cancers, Kavanaugh-Lynch said. And if patterns hold up, she said 1,036 women with early stage disease will die from breast cancer despite the advantages of early detection and improved treatment.
Survival rates decline for women diagnosed with later stages of disease.
Nearly half of those diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in any one year in California will die from the disease over the next 10 years. They will die because either they did not receive screening services or because their cancer had advanced beyond the earliest stages despite early detection, the report said. These are only the women diagnosed in 2001. Laura Esserman, assistant professor of medicine in residence, described her study into how to improve mammography screening in California. The California Breast Cancer Research Program, administered by the UC Office of the President, awarded funding to 70 new projects across the state of California in 2000.