SPOKANE, Wash. — Cancer researchers are out with a new study, hoping to home in on better guidelines for breast cancer screening.
In particular, scientists are seeing more of a need for women with higher breast tissue density to get additional MRI screenings.
UW Medicine’s Dr. Katy Lowry, who serves as a radiologist and associate professor, said there is a real imbalance within health care when it comes to reducing breast cancer-causing deaths, as well as the harms that patients may experience, like false positives, callbacks, biopsies and costs that wind up being unnecessary.
More women who don’t have cancer get called back for more imaging and biopsies, which can take a mental toll. Still, the more intensely a woman is screened, the more likely her life can be saved.
“The more we look, the more we find cancer and things that are not cancer,” said Dr. Lowry.
Dr. Lowry said about half of all women have breasts that can be described as “dense.” About 10% of women have extreme density. When it comes to high-density breast tissue, mammograms don’t screen as well as they do for women with non-dense breasts.
Women with higher breast density should consider additional screening, like an MRI or ultrasound, according to the study.
Dr. Lowry said having a screening policy can be controversial, because when seeking a balance, you run the risk of it being too much to some, and not enough to others.
“It’s an inherent challenge because it’s often not clear. How much screening is too much? How much is not enough? We don’t have a guide that says, ‘We’re willing to do X number of biopsies to save one life.’ That doesn’t exist,” said Dr. Lowry.
As of now, there seems to be costlier consequences for women with higher breast density. MRIs and biopsies are bigger expenses after mammograms, and health insurance companies might be inclined to deny coverage for an MRI.
The goal of this study was to address real factors that have a big impact on the feasibility and the real-world effectiveness of these guidelines, according to UW Medicine.
Women are encouraged to discuss screening options with their doctors. Here is the published study.
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