The American College of Radiology fired back today at the Physician Data Query (PDQ) screening and prevention editorial board, which asserted last week that evidence was insufficient to prove that mammography prevents cancer deaths. The ACR said there is plenty of evidence demonstrating that mammography reduces deaths from breast cancer.
On January 23 the PDQ board said that the seven major mammography studies have such serious design flaws that their results cannot be used to support mammography’s effectiveness in reducing breast cancer mortality. The group based its statement on a controversial meta-analysis produced last year by the Nordic Cochrane Center in Copenhagen, Denmark.
As a result of its review, the PDQ board said it will rewrite the cancer information summaries it supplies to the National Cancer Institute. The summaries are posted on the NCI’s Web site at www.cancer.gov. The PDQ board does not set NCI guidelines itself, however, and the head of the NCI’s cancer prevention division said last week that women should continue to receive mammography screening.
The ACR criticized the PDQ board’s reliance on the Cochrane Center study, which the Herndon, VA, society said was based on "flawed data and questionable statistical analysis." Mammography’s value has been demonstrated in randomized, controlled trials, and is also evident through the decline in breast cancer deaths in the U.S. since 1989 -- a decline that corresponds to an increase in routine mammography screening.
"There is sufficient data that clearly demonstrates that screening mammograms are saving lives," said Dr. Carl D'Orsi, chair of the ACR committee on breast cancer. "It is obvious that the PDQ has not had the chance to review all the relevant data and discuss this issue with the trialists."
The ACR said that "segments of the national media are reporting on the PDQ assertion in a capricious manner," and aren’t mentioning the clinical trials that support mammography screening. Many women who are candidates for screening could be forgoing the procedure because of the media coverage, the society said.
The full text of the ACR announcement is available at the organization's Web site.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersJanuary 28, 2002
Related Reading
Panel casts more doubt on mammography's value, January 24, 2002
Danish mammographers exclude dissenting opinion, October 23, 2001
Reassessment confirms: Screening mammography has no survival benefit, October 19, 2001
Most women overestimate the efficacy of mammography, October 19, 2001
Swedish trials reiterate mammography’s effectiveness for most women, May 8, 2001
Danish mammo study reviewed: right questions, wrong answers, January 17, 2000
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