Controversies in breast cancer screening for women aged 40-49 years

Time to Clinical Follow-up after Abnormal Mammogram among African American and Hispanic Women

BACKGROUND

Time to clinical follow-up after an abnormal mammogram may be a significant factor contributing to breast cancer health disparities.

OBJECTIVE

Evaluate time to follow-up in a cross-sectional cohort of African American and Hispanic women who obtained mammogram screening at a county facility.

METHODS

Time to follow-up was assessed in days after an abnormal mammogram to subsequent clinical care in a cross-sectional study of 74 women.

RESULTS

The median number of days until clinical follow-up after an abnormal mammogram for women in the study was 30 days (Range: 0-357 days). There was a statistically significant difference in the time-to-biopsy among women who had incomplete mammograms and women who had comorbid conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

This data indicates that county services provide clinical follow-up in compliance with recommended guidelines of 30 days. However, women with incomplete mammograms and comorbid conditions may be at a higher risk of experiencing delays in diagnosis and treatment.

Evolution of accesses to information on breast cancer and screening on the Brazilian National Cancer Institute website: an exploratory study

Delays in diagnosis due to low Breast Cancer awareness are widespread in Brazil maybe owing to ineffective strategies to raise attention on early diagnosis. As a proxy of collective interest in BC screanning (BCS) we studied the monthly accesses to BC and BCS webpages in INCA's website along 48 months. A log analyzer built a time serie (2006-2009) of BC and BCS monthly means, which oscilations were studied by analysis of variance (ANOVA). We found significant increasing accesses to BC and transient "attention peaks". Enlargement in BC/BCS differences along all period were caused by increasing accesses to BC and decreasing/minor/stable oscillations to SBC pages. These results are consistent with previous reports on increasing interest to BC contrasting with indifference on BCS. In the context of an exploratory study, we discussed some aspects: weakness of a "prevention culture"; lack of confidence in health system and screening programs; "celebrity effect" in the context of media framing; collective perception of risks heightened by perception of social vulnerability. Findings suggest that culture-tailored communication strategies would be necessary to inform Brazilian people about BCS. Future research is needed to study social perceptions and constructions on BC topics.

Challenges With Identifying Indication for Examination in Breast Imaging as a Key Clinical Attribute in Practice, Research, and Policy

PURPOSE

To assess indication for examination for four breast imaging modalities and describe the complexity and heterogeneity of data sources and ascertainment methods.

METHODS

Indication was evaluated among the Population-based Research Optimizing Screening through Personalized Regimens (PROSPR) breast cancer research centers (PRCs). Indication data were reported overall and separately for four breast imaging modalities: digital mammography (DM), digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), ultrasound (US), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

RESULTS

The breast PRCs contributed 236,262 women with 607,735 breast imaging records from 31 radiology facilities. We found a high degree of heterogeneity for indication within and across six data sources. Structured codes within a data source were used most often to identify indication for mammography (59% DM, 85% DBT) and text analytics for US (45%) and MRI (44%). Indication could not be identified for 17% of US and 26% of MRI compared with 2% of mammography examinations (1% DM, 3% DBT).

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple and diverse data sources, heterogeneity of ascertainment methods, and nonstandardization of codes within and across data systems for determining indication were found. Consideration of data sources and standardized methodology for determining indication is needed to assure accurate measurement of cancer screening rates and performance in clinical practice and research.

Focused Decision Support: a Data Mining Tool to Query the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial Dataset and Guide Screening Management for the Individual Patient

The Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) Screening Trial enrolled ~155,000 participants to determine whether certain screening exams reduced mortality from prostate, lung, colorectal, and ovarian cancer. Repurposing the data provides an unparalleled resource for matching patients with the outcomes of demographically or diagnostically comparable patients. A web-based application was developed to query this subset of patient information against a given patient's demographics and risk factors. Analysis of the matched data yields outcome information which can then be used to guide management decisions and imaging software. Prognostic information is also estimated via the proportion of matched patients that progress to cancer. The US Preventative Services Task Force provides screening recommendations for cancers of the breast, colorectal tract, and lungs. There is wide variability in adherence of clinicians to these guidelines and others published by the Fleischner Society and various cancer organizations. Data mining the PLCO dataset for clinical decision support can optimize the use of limited healthcare resources, focusing screening on patients for whom the benefit to risk ratio is the greatest and most efficacious. A data driven, personalized approach to cancer screening maximizes the economic and clinical efficacy and enables early identification of patients in which the course of disease can be improved. Our dynamic decision support system utilizes a subset of the PLCO dataset as a reference model to determine imaging and testing appropriateness while offering prognostic information for various cancers.

Screening mammography: update and review of publications since our report in the New England Journal of Medicine on the magnitude of the problem in the United States

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

After a half century of clinical trials, expansive observations, vigorous advocacy and debate, screening mammography could not be in a more controversial condition, especially the potential harm of overdiagnosis. Despite a simple rationale (catch the cancer early and either prevent death or at least decrease the amount of therapy needed for cure), the estimates to date of overdiagnosis rates are conflicting and the interpretations complex.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Since the author's 2012 publication in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the peer-reviewed publications on overdiagnosis caused by screening mammography are reviewed and the NEJM analyses updated with three additional calendar years of results.

RESULTS

The recent peer-reviewed medical literature on screening mammography induced overdiagnosis of breast cancer has increased exponentially, nearly 10-fold in 10 years. The average estimate of overdiagnosis is about 30%, but the range extends from 0% to 70+%. An update of the NEJM report estimates that in the US, 78,000 women and 30%-31% of those diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 40 years or older during 2011 were overdiagnosed.

CONCLUSIONS

Until we have better screening procedures that identify who really has cancer and needs to be treated, the risk of overdiagnosis relative to the benefit of screening merits more effective public and professional education. Radiologists, pathologists, and other professionals involved with screening mammography should recognize that the potential harm of overdiagnosis is downplayed or not discussed with the patient and family, despite agreement that the objective is informed choice.

Diagnostic and therapeutic path of breast cancer: effectiveness, appropriateness, and costs--results from the DOCMa study

Objective

An increase in breast cancer incidence has been documented in Italy and in other countries, and some women decide by themselves to undergo diagnostic examinations outside the official screening campaigns. The aim of this paper was to analyze – in terms of effectiveness, appropriate access, and related costs – the path spontaneously followed by a sample of Italian women for the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Subjects and methods

A total of 143 women who consecutively referred themselves to the breast cancer outpatient facilities at the Sant’Andrea University Hospital in Rome from May to June 2007 were enrolled in the study, gave their consent, and were screened according to their individual risk factors for breast cancer. The entire diagnostic and therapeutic path followed in the previous 2 years by each of them, either at Sant’Andrea or in other medical facilities, was reviewed and evaluated in terms of its operative efficiency and fair economic value.

Results

The subjects’ mean age was 47.5 years (standard deviation 13.6 years); 55% of the women were <50 years old (28% <40 years), and were thus not included in the official screening campaigns; 97 women (70%) were requesting a routine control; and 49% of them had already undergone four to seven examinations before the enrollment, although no major risk factor was present in 73.5%. After enrollment in the study, nine of the patients had surgical interventions performed on them at Sant’Andrea’s, identifying five invasive carcinomas and two ductal in situ carcinomas and two benign lesions. Operative efficiency and fair economic value were found to be optimal only in diagnostic/therapeutic paths followed at Sant’Andrea.

Conclusion

The diagnostic path at Sant’Andrea’s specialized center for breast cancer diagnosis and therapy is characterized by higher operative efficiency and more sustainable costs than at general hospitals, outpatient facilities run by local health authorities, or private medical centers. This result seems to confirm the present tendency to refer high-risk patients for breast cancer directly to breast units like the one at Sant’Andrea.

Limitations of mammography in the diagnosis of breast diseases compared with ultrasonography: a single-center retrospective analysis of 274 cases

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study is to compare X-ray mammography (MG) and ultrasonography (US) in the diagnosis of breast diseases in Chinese women.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed X-ray mammograms of 274 patients with US and surgical/pathological results of breast diseases diagnosed at The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University (Hefei, China) between March 2011 and November 2014. The MG and US data were compared to surgical records using the results from post-surgical pathological examinations as the gold standard.

RESULTS

The overall sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, false-positive, false-negative, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for the detection of breast cancer were 88.5%, 57.9%, 73.7%, 42.1%, 11.5%, 69.2%, and 82.5%, respectively, for MG and 95.9%, 66.7%, 81.8%, 33.3%, 4.1%, 75.5%, and 93.8%, respectively, for US. Of the 274 cases, lesion size by MG agreed with surgery in 133 (48.5%) patients compared with 216 (78.8%) by US (P < 0.01). Lesion location by MG agreed with surgery in 146 (53.3%) patients compared with 257 (93.8%) by US (P < 0.01). These values were then stratified according to age, menstrual status, breast density, and breast volume, and the agreement rates of MG with surgery were lower than that of US (all P < 0.01), except when the lesion size was >5 cm (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

US was better than MG in the preoperative evaluation of breast diseases of Chinese women. These results suggest that US could be more useful for detecting breast lesions in China, especially for younger women with dense breasts.

Overdiagnosis: epidemiologic concepts and estimation

Overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer was propounded regarding the rapidly increasing incidence in South Korea. Overdiagnosis is defined as 'the detection of cancers that would never have been found were it not for the screening test', and may be an extreme form of lead bias due to indolent cancers, as is inevitable when conducting a cancer screening programme. Because it is solely an epidemiological concept, it can be estimated indirectly by phenomena such as a lack of compensatory drop in post-screening periods, or discrepancies between incidence and mortality. The erstwhile trials for quantifying the overdiagnosis in screening mammography were reviewed in order to secure the data needed to establish its prevalence in South Korea.

New targeted therapies for breast cancer: A focus on tumor microenvironmental signals and chemoresistant breast cancers

Breast cancer is the most frequent female malignancy worldwide. Current strategies in breast cancer therapy, including classical chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted therapies, are usually associated with chemoresistance and serious adverse effects. Advances in our understanding of changes affecting the interactome in advanced and chemoresistant breast tumors have provided novel therapeutic targets, including, cyclin dependent kinases, mammalian target of rapamycin, Notch, Wnt and Shh. Inhibitors of these molecules recently entered clinical trials in mono- and combination therapy in metastatic and chemo-resistant breast cancers. Anticancer epigenetic drugs, mainly histone deacetylase inhibitors and DNA methyltransferase inhibitors, also entered clinical trials. Because of the complexity and heterogeneity of breast cancer, the future in therapy lies in the application of individualized tailored regimens. Emerging therapeutic targets and the implications for personalized-based therapy development in breast cancer are herein discussed.