Does your gynecologist recommend that you perform breast self-examinations? Although breast examinations are commonly used as a screening method for early diagnosis of breast cancer, it is not clear whether these examinations reduce the number of breast cancer deaths. According to an analysis published in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, breast cancer screening by breast self-examination does not reduce breast cancer mortality.

Researchers from the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark analyzed information collected from large clinical trials conducted in Russia and Shanghai, China that included 388,535 women. They found that the number of breast cancer deaths was comparable between women who performed breast self-exams and women who did not. Moreover, in the Russian clinical trial, more cancers were found among the women who performed breast self-examination. The researchers also found that women who performed breast self-exams were almost two times as likely to undergo breast biopsies that turned out to be benign.

From this analysis, the researchers concluded that breast cancer screening by breast self-examination could not be recommended. They suggested that, although women do not necessarily need to be taught the technique for breast self-examination, they should be educated on breast changes that are concerning for breast cancer and advised to bring any changes to the attention of their doctor.