Washington (H24N). Most women have heard by now how important annual mammograms are in preventing death from breast cancer.

Well, that current wisdom is being called into question by a new study out of Canada that has found that for women in their 50s, a thorough physical examination of the breasts every year may suffice.

The study, which is published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is the first to look at the benefits of physical breast exams and mammograms separately, because they are usually done together during screenings.

After following about 40,000 women between the ages of 50 and 59 throughout the 1980s, researchers at the University of Toronto found that the mortality figures for women who had annual mammograms and physical exams, and women who only had physical exams each year were almost the same.

All of the women in the study were taught breast self-examination.

Researchers began recruiting women in 1980. The subjects were followed by record linkage through the Canadian National Cancer Registry and the National Mortality Database until 1993.

There were 622 cases of invasive breast cancer and 107 deaths in the group of women who got annual mammograms and examinations, compared to 610 cases of invasive breast cancer and 105 deaths in the group that had only received breast examinations.

"In women in their 50s, the addition of annual mammography screening to physical examination has no impact on breast cancer mortality," concluded the study’s authors.

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