Among women who practice Breast Self Examination (BSE), the breast cancers may be detected when they are at an earlier stage and are smaller than in women who do not practice BSE. However, the efficacy of BSE in decreasing breast cancer mortality is unproven.

From Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seatle, the study show that intensive instruction in BSE did not reduce mortality from breast cancer.

More than that, women who choose to practice BSE should be informed that its efficacy is unproven and that it may increase their chances of having a benign breast biopsy.

This study was conducted to determine whether an intensive program of BSE instruction will reduce the number of women dying of breast cancer.

The data collected from 266,064 women associated with 519 factories in Shanghai were randomly assigned to a BSE instruction group (132,979 women) or a control group (133,085 women).

The result from above study, there were 123 (0.10%) breast cancer deaths in the instruction group, and 13 (0.10%) in the control group.

The study on October 1989 through October 1991 and the cumulative breast cancer mortality rates through 10 to 11 years of follow-up were similar.

In other words, Programs to encourage Breast Self Examination BSE in the absence of mammography would be unlikely to reduce mortality from breast cancer.