Breast Cancer: Mayo Researcher Finds Post-Surgery Screening Disparities

Kathryn Ruddy, MD, chair of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center’s Survivorship Disease Group, led a recently published study which determined not only that breast cancer survivors are not getting the recommended level of postsurgery mammography—with rates declining over time as women got further out from their breast cancer diagnosis—but African American women, in particular, were less likely to receive the recommended amount of screening. This may contribute to higher mortality rates for black women, given that recurrence of cancer in the breast is a major driver for poor prognosis in African American women. ARTICLE