Ultrasounds Could Detect More Breast Cancers

Ultrasound and resonance imaging scans can aid better breast cancer screening, reveals US study.

The research, published in the April 4 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that those two technologies helped spot small cancers that mammograms had missed.

About Ultrasound
Ultrasound scan or sonogram uses sound waves to obtain images of the internal organs. Ultrasound scan is used during pregnancy and to examine breast, abdomen, renal and thyroid.

The study followed 2,662 women at high risk for breast cancer, particularly because of dense breasts and/or a family history of the disease. They agreed to undergo three independent screenings in one year, arranged in random order.

The three tests found a total of 111 cancers, for about 2.6 percent of the total group.

Mammography, which is a low-energy X-ray of the breast, found 59 cancers, or 53 percent of the total cancers found.

About Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI)
Encyclopedia section of medindia gives general info about Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Ultrasound, a scan that uses sound waves to produce a picture of the body's internal workings and is often used for pregnant women, found 29 percent of cancers on its own.

MRI scans which use a magnetic field combined with pulses of radio wave energy, found a total of eight percent of cancers that the other two methods had failed to detect.

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Eleven cancers, or 10 percent, were not found by any of the three screening technologies, said the study.

"Annual ultrasound screening may detect small, node-negative breast cancers that are not seen on mammography," said the study.

Key Protein Players In Taxing Breast Cancers Treatments, Keyed by Scientists
During diagnosis, the most breast cancers are classified as oestrogen-receptor positive or hormone sensitive, which means their cancerous cells perhaps needs oestrogen to grow.

"Magnetic resonance imaging may reveal additional breast cancers missed by both mammography and ultrasound screening," it said, adding however that MRI is not suitable for all patients and can carry higher costs and risks than other methods.

According to Kristin Byrne, chief of breast imaging at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, the study shows that alternative testing methods can help spot cancers that mammograms miss.

"Nearly half of the cancers would not have been detected with mammography alone," said Byrne, who was not involved with the study.

"Breast cancer is difficult to detect on mammography in patients with dense breast tissue. Ultrasound and MRI detect a significant number of breast cancers which are not seen on mammography in patients with dense breast tissue," she added.

"Additional yearly screening with MRI and ultrasound is important in high risk patients with dense breasts for early detection."

Source-AFP