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By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, June 26, 2018 (HealthDay News) – With automated measurements of breast density, Norwegian researchers have been able to confirm more accurately that women with dense breasts have a higher risk of breast cancer.
The study included more than 100,000 women and more than 300,000 screening tests.
"We found that screening tests for women with dense breasts had higher booster and biopsy rates, and higher risks of breast cancer detected at intervals than women with non-dense breasts," explains Dr. 39, lead author of the study, Solveig Hofvind. She is a researcher and head of BreastScreen Norway for the Norwegian Cancer Registry.
The dense breasts pose a challenge when it comes to cancer screening, because the dense tissue appears white on a mammogram. It's also the way breast tumors look like a mammogram. According to Hofvind, dense breast tissue can effectively mask or mask cancers.
The results were published on June 26 Radiology.
Dr. Liane Philpotts wrote an accompanying editorial. She is Head of Breast Imaging at the Yale School of Medicine.
"Dense breasts are not something the patient feels, you can only tell if someone has dense breast tissue on a mammogram," said Philpotts.
Radiologists identify breast density using a standardized scoring technique from the American College of Radiology (ACR). The scoring system goes from A to D. A woman with an A or B does not have dense breasts, but someone with a C or a D, she explains.
About half of American women screened for breast cancer have dense breast tissue. As women get older, their breasts often become less dense, Philpotts said.
Instead of using the ACR technique, which relies on the subjective judgment of a radiologist, the new study used automated software – known as automated volumetric analysis – to classify breast density. .
Norwegian women in the study were between 50 and 69 years old. Automated software found dense breasts in 28% of their screening tests.
The cancer rates were 6.7 per 1000 exams for women with dense breasts and 5.5 for women with non-dense breasts, according to the results.
Continued
"This study really shows that women with dense breasts had more cancers, it was not huge, it was a small increase, but it was an increase," Philpotts said.
In addition, women with dense breasts had more cancers in between. These are cancers found between screenings – for example, when a woman feels a lump in her chest.
The study found that women with dense breasts were recalled for more tests because of suspicious findings and were more likely to have a biopsy to check for cancer tissue than women without dense breasts. .
Women with dense breasts also tend to have larger tumors when cancer has been detected – an average of 17 millimeters (mm) versus 15 mm for women without dense breasts.
The study also confirmed that it is more difficult to accurately identify breast cancers in dense breast tissue. Cancers were accurately detected in women with dense breasts 71% of the time compared to 82% in women without dense breasts.
"Automated volumetric breast density measurements can be considered a future standard for breast cancer screening, ensuring objective density classification," Hofvind said.
Philpotts pointed out that the results do not necessarily translate to an American population, because the women screened in the study were older and they were examined every two years rather than every year.
She said more research is needed to assess the risks and benefits of automated software. Hofvind was in agreement.
Women with dense breasts do not usually need to be examined more often, according to Philpotts. But they will need some sort of additional imaging, such as ultrasound or MRI, which helps to better see the difference between a dense tissue and a cancerous tissue.
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