Doctors have raised doubts over the value of rigorous self-examinations for breast cancer, after a study found they do nothing to reduce death rates and may do women more harm than good.
British health officials advise women to be "breast aware" by being alert to unusual changes that could be caused by a tumour, but some women conduct very frequent and extensive examinations to check for lumps.
In a review of studies that looked at 388,535 women, doctors found there was no evidence that the more detailed self-examinations helped reduce deaths from breast cancer. They might even be causing more harm than good, scientists said, because it led to almost twice as many biopsies that found no sign of cancer.
Detailed self-examination is widely practised in the US and requires training to learn a complicated routine of checks. The procedure is not advocated by the Department of Health or British breast cancer charities, which advise women simply to be vigilant to unusual changes in their breasts.
Jan Peter Kösters, at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark, examined two studies of women from Russia and China. Those who did extensive breast examinations had 3,406 biopsies, while women who did not had 1,856 biopsies. There was no difference in the number of deaths from breast cancer. The Chinese study also found that the number of mastectomies and other types of breast surgery were similar between women who self-examined and those who did not.
Writing in The Cochrane Library, a publication of an international organisation that evaluates medical research, Kösters said: "At present, screening by breast self-examination or physical examination ... cannot be recommended."
Hazel Thornton, an independent breast cancer expert, said the findings suggested GPs were sending the worried well for biopsies as a precautionary measure. "The result is they suffer more anxiety, because they have more biopsies," she said.
Sarah Cant, at the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "Being breast aware does not mean following a fancy routine, you just need to know what your breasts look and feel like normally ... Most of the 44,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year in the UK are detected by women themselves."