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The question of how to best screen women with dense breasts has been an ongoing debate among experts. As with any controversial or new topic without a scientific consensus, the best one can hope to do is gather as many data as possible in order to advise and treat patients in as informed and effective a manner as possible.
This month’s E-News Exclusive focuses on recent developments in this medical puzzle. At the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands from March 9 to 11, researchers presented the findings of an Italian trial that found that including either ultrasound or tomosynthesis with mammography resulted in the detection of breast cancer in women that may have otherwise been missed. In fact, according to researchers, of the approximately 3,000 women with dense breasts in the trial, ultrasound and tomosynthesis combined to detect 24 instances of breast cancer when the initial mammograms came back negative.
As the researchers readily admit, however, this information is not without its drawbacks, as there is also an increased risk of false positives, which could lead to an increase in undue stress and burden on the patients. Researchers also acknowledge that more research will be needed.
Still, this study is another piece of the puzzle and another step in the direction of a medical consensus. And that’s not a bad thing.
— Tony Fioriglio, editorial assistant |
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Trial Finds Ultrasound, Tomosynthesis Detect More Cancers in Dense Breasts
Adding either tomosynthesis (a form of 3D mammography) or ultrasound scans to standard mammograms can detect breast cancers that would have been missed in women with dense breasts, according to an interim analysis of a trial comparing these two additional screening technologies.
In more than 3,000 women with dense breasts where standard mammograms had not detected any cancer, the addition of tomosynthesis or ultrasound scans picked up an extra 24 cancers, according to a presentation made at the 10th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-10).
Nehmat Houssami, MBBS, FAFPHM, FASBP, MPH, MEd, PhD, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney in Australia, representing the Italian trial, said that, until now, there had been no prospective trial comparing the addition of ultrasound or tomosynthesis with standard mammograms in these women.
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“If you are a young woman who was treated with radiation therapy to your chest as a teenager or child for [Hodgkin’s lymphoma], or for that matter chest radiation therapy for any reason, you should be having a conversation with your family doctor or your oncologist about whether to start breast cancer screening earlier than most women would.”
— David Hodgson, MD, MPH, FRCPC, radiation oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and a professor in the department of radiation oncology at the University of Toronto on the results of a study that found that early breast cancer screening in women that were treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma with chest radiation as youths led to fewer cancer fatalities |
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