Women with breast cancer can live just as long as HEALTHY women thanks to screening, says study

The success of breast cancer screening now means women can have a normal life expectancy if tumours are picked up early.

Latest figures show women treated at an early stage can live as long as those without the disease.

The data, for 2000/01, found that patients who responded well to treatment for small, early stage cancers could expect a normal life span five years after diagnosis.

That type equates to 61 per cent of cancers detected through screening, say figures from the Association of Breast Surgery and the NHS Breast Screening Programme.

They also assessed results from screening in 1990 and 1991 and found that where the cancer was small, low grade and had not spread to the lymph nodes, women had normal life expectancy 15 years after diagnosis.

Survival rates are also improving for women with more aggressive types of breast cancer detected by NHS screening.

Overall, 15-year survival in England, Wales and Northern Ireland stands at 86 per cent for women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, where it has spread outside the breast.

Around one in three breast cancers diagnosed in England is detected by the screening programme, which offers three-yearly X-rays to women aged 50 to 70.

The programme is about to be extended to cover those aged 47 to 73.

Professor Julietta Patnick, director of the NHS Breast Screening Programme, said that extension by 2012 would catch an extra 400,000 women each year.

She said: '2008 marks the 20th anniversary of the introduction of breast screening in England.

'Huge strides have been made and more women than ever are surviving breast cancer. Many of these have benefited from early detection through routine screening.

Dr Gill Lawrence, director of the West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Unit which co-ordinates the audit, said: 'The data clearly demonstrates significant improvements in the quality of the service women receive; from the reduction in the number requiring surgery for a definitive diagnosis of breast cancer, to an increase in the proportion of cancers diagnosed through screening.'

Since 1990, treatment for breast cancer has improved and survival rates will increase further for women with a cancer detected through screening, she predicted.

In 2006/07 three out of four women with invasive cancers were treated by a breast conserving technique, according to the audit.

It shows for the 6,567 women with cancers smaller than 15mm, fewer than one in five (18 per cent) required a mastectomy.

Mr Martin Lee, president of the ABS, said: 'It is vital that women are aware of the excellent survival now achieved for breast cancers diagnosed through screening and they should be confident in the quality of the service they receive.'

A drug that helps women fight thinning bones also cuts the risk of breast cancer, say researchers.

Raloxifene more than halves the danger of developing oestrogenpositive breast cancer  -  the form which accounts for around three-quarters of cases.

The drug was the first of a new class approved for the prevention of osteoporosis, which affects about three million Britons, mostly post-menopausal women.

The U.S. research was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The latest findings come from a trial involving more than 10,000 women. They show cuts in breast cancer after five years' use equivalent to 1.2 cases per 1,000 women.

There was no reduction in the risk of invasive oestrogen-negative breast cancer or in non-invasive breast cancers of any type.