Mammograms cut breast cancer deaths: WHO study

Mammograms can prevent breast cancer deaths in women aged 50 to 69, an expert panel working for the International Agency for Research on Cancer has concluded.

The finding, released in Barcelona at a cancer conference, refutes a Danish study that raised doubts about the validity of mammograms.

The report from the IARC, part of the UN's World Health Organization, said many of the Danish researchers' concerns were unfounded.

If women have regular mammograms, "the risk of dying of breast cancer goes down by 35 percent," said the IARC's chairman, Bruce Armstrong.

"That's the promise we can make to women."

The finding was welcomed by breast cancer workers. "This is the definitive answer," said Julietta Patnick, who coordinates Britain's national breast cancer screening program.

The National Cancer Institute of Canada said 5,500 Canadian women died from breast cancer last year, and there were 19,500 new cases.

Seven studies done in the 1970s and 1980s concluded mammmograms are useful in reducing breast cancer deaths, leading to recommendations women have regular mammograms.

But last fall, Danish researchers reanalyzed the studies, and concluded they were so flawed that it was impossible to tell if regular mammograms saved lives.