Improved breast screening can identify an additional 3,500 cancers per year in the UK and save hundreds of lives, suggests a study.
Extra scans for some women picked up at an early stage of cancers who remained ‘hidden’ during regular mammograms-lake than making the detection of cancer.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge are now asking to add extra scans to breast screening programs for the group of women who have very dense breasts.
About 10 percent of women have very dense breasts, which means that they have more fiber and glandular tissue and less fatty tissue than other women.
Of those with dense breasts, it is already known that they have compared a four -time increased risk of breast cancer with women without.
The new study, published in the Lancet Medical Journal, was conducted on 9,361 women in the United Kingdom who have closed breasts and looked cancer -free on a regular mammogram.
During the study, which looked at extra scanning methods, an extra 85 cancers were found.
The two methods investigated were contrast-improved mammography (CEM), where coloring is used to make blood vessels more visible, and abbreviated magnetic resonance formation (AB-MRI), which is faster than an ordinary MRI.
Improved breast screening can identify an additional 3,500 cancers per year in the UK and save hundreds of lives, suggests an investigation
The experts calculated that adding one of these methods to existing breast screening could detect 3,500 more cancers per year in the UK.
And because screening reduces death for about 20 percent of detected cancers, this can mean that an additional 700 lives have been saved every year, they said.
A third scan method that was used in the test-automated entire breast ultrasound (abuse) also packed cancers, but was much less effective than CEM and AB-MRI.
In general, CEM detected 19 cancers per 1,000 scanned women, while AB-MRI found 17 and Abus found four.
With mammograms that already detect about eight cancers per 1,000 women with dense breasts, extra scans can therefore be more than three -stark detection of breast cancer.
At the moment, because denser breasts look whiter on mammograms, the usual mammogram scan cannot collect all these cancers.
Early phase cancers also seem white, which means that they are difficult to distinguish.
Professor Fiona Gilbert, from the University of Cambridge and honorary consultant Radiologist in the hospital of Addenbrooke, led the study.
Professor Fiona Gilbert, from the University of Cambridge and honorary consultant Radiologist at the Hospital of Addenbrooke
She said: ‘Getting a diagnosis of cancer makes a huge difference for patients in terms of their treatment and prospects.
“We have to change our national screening program, so that we can ensure that more cancers are diagnosed early, giving many more women a much better chance of surviving.”
In the study, the researchers concluded: ‘Gli and contrast -reinforced mammography detected three times as many invasive cancers compared to abuse, where cancers are half the size.
“This study shows that additional imaging could lead to earlier cancer detection in women with dense breasts.”
The study was funded by Cancer Research UK with support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Center.
Professor Stephen Duffy, from Queen Mary University, London, the test statistician and an expert in the field of screening programs, said: ‘The NHS breast display program has made a huge difference for many lives.
“Thanks to these results, we can see that the technology exists to make screening even better, especially for the 10 percent of women with dense breast tissue.”
About 10 percent of women have very dense breasts, which means that they have more fiber and gland tissue and less fatty tissue than other women
Dr. David Crosby, head of prevention and early detection at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘This study shows that making blood vessels more visible during mammograms could make it much easier for doctors to spot signs of cancer in women with dense breasts.
“More research is needed to fully understand the effectiveness of these techniques, but these results are encouraging.”
At the moment, the UK National Screening Committee does not recommend extra imaging for women with dense breasts who have a negative result on a mammogram.
Dr. Kotryna Temcinaite, head of research communication and involvement in the Charity breast cancer now, said: ‘The UK National Screening Committee must now consider this research as part of their current assessment to determine whether women with very dense breasts should be offered additional imaging during their routine screening.
‘If the UK National Screening Committee recommends extra imaging for screening women with very dense breasts, we will insist on those changes that are rolled out in the United Kingdom as quickly as possible.
‘Routin -meated breast screening is the most likely route to find breast cancer early when the treatment is probably successful.
“Although we know that the current process can be less effective in detecting cancers in dense breasts, we still encourage all the women to attend mammogram screening when they are invited.”
A spokesperson for the Health and Social Care department said: ‘Research is being conducted into the use of extra tests for women with dense breasts, as part of the NHS breast screening program.
“The UK National Screening Committee evaluates this proof as it becomes available.”
Extra scan found my cancer
Addenbrooke’s patient Louise Duffield was one of the 85 women with the diagnosis of cancer thanks to the extra scans used in the study.
60 years old, the grandmother of four from Ely, Cambridgeshire, had an AB-MRI scan that identified a small lump deep in one of her breasts.
She said: “When they called to say they had found something, it was a big shock.
“You are starting to think all sorts of things, but in the end I just thought,” at least when they’ve found something, they found it early. ” The staff was brilliant and so supportive. ‘
Louise Duffield was one of the 85 women with the diagnosis of cancer thanks to the extra scans
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