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Breast cancer detection duo |
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PLYMOUTH MEETING, Penn.—According to a new health technology survey by the ECRI Institute, the combination of MRI and X-ray mammography may have a significant impact on the ability of oncologists to detect breast cancer in high-risk patients. Unfortunately, it also comes with the price of more false positives. The institute published its findings in its TARGET report.
Wendy Bruening and colleagues examined data from six studies involving almost 2000 women considered at very high risk for breast cancer because of their family histories who were given almost 4000 screening exams. The researchers found that the combined use of MRI and X-ray led to the detection of cancer 2.7-times more often, and that MRI alone detected cancer 2.3-times as often as standard X-ray mammography.
The group estimates, however, that for every 10 additional cancers detected through the use of MRI and X-ray, 16 additional false positives occurred. They believe that the chance of unnecessary procedures may be acceptable.
“In high-risk women, the cancer can be more aggressive, so you want to detect it as soon as possible,” Bruening says. “For women at high risk of cancer, the benefit of finding more cancers earlier may outweigh the harms of unnecessary testing.
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