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Ultrasound Boosts Breast Cancer Detection

May 14, 2008 ACRIN 6666

The results of a study with women at elevated risk of breast cancer published in the Journal of the American Medical Association May 14, 2008 found that mammography alone had a cancer detection rate of 7.6 per 1,000 women screened. Adding an additional ultrasound boosted the rate to 11.8 per 1000 - an increase of 28 percent.

Dr. Wendie Berg, Lead investigator, was interested in finding out whether ultrasound could pick up tumors that mammography could not, which earlier studies had concluded (Kolb, Gordon, Crystal, Kaplan). "The type of cancer that we see on ultrasound are still small but invasive cancer - they're the type that spread when not detected," she explains. "Ultrasound is a completely different way of looking at the breast tissue that is not at all limited in how DENSE the breast is," Berg said. "And in this study we found that the vast majority of cancers we found with ultrasound had not yet spread to lymph nodes...and that's important. Those are the types of cancers that we need to be finding." From NPR - All Things Considered Patti Neighmond

Important FAQ about the study results here.

April 4, 2012 - video link as Dr. Berg speaks about further research on ultrasound and MRI added to mammography for women with elevated risk of breast cancer and dense breasts.

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What is Dense Breast Tissue?

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Are You Dense? Fact #1:
Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #2:
Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #3:
Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.
Are You Dense? Fact #4:
American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #5:
While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #6:
A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.
Are You Dense? Fact #7:
Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #8:
A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.
Are You Dense? Fact #9:
Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #10
There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.