Overdetection of Breast Cancer

Nonsurgical Management of High-Risk Lesions

This article highlights the recent publications and changing trends in practice regarding management of high-risk lesions of the breast. Traditional management has always been a surgical operation but this is recognized as overtreatment. It is recognized that overdiagnosis is inevitable but what we can control is overtreatment. Vacuum-assisted excision is now established as an alternative technique to surgery for further sampling of these high-risk lesions in the United Kingdom. Guidelines from the United Kingdom and Europe now recognize this alternative pathway, and data are available showing that vacuum-assisted excision is a safe alternative to surgery.

Impact of Breast Cancer Screening on 10-Year Net Survival in Canadian Women Age 40-49 Years

PURPOSE

In Canada, some provincial/territorial mammography screening programs include women age 40-49 years, whereas others do not. This study examines the impact of this dichotomy on the 10-year breast cancer (BC) net survival (NS) among women age 40-49 years and 50-59 years at diagnosis.

METHODS

Using the Canadian Cancer Registry data record linked to death information, we evaluated the cohort of Canadian women age 40-49 years and 50-59 years diagnosed with BC from 2002 to 2007. We compared 10-year NS estimates in the jurisdictions with organized screening programs that included women age 40-49 years, designated as screeners (Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), with comparator programs that did not (Yukon, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador).

RESULTS

BC was the primary cause of 10-year mortality in women age 40-49 years diagnosed with BC (90.7% of deaths). Among these women, the 10-year NS for screeners (84.8%; 95% CI, 83.8 to 85.8) was 1.9 percentage points (pp) higher than that for comparators (82.9%; 95% CI, 82.3 to 83.5; P = .001). The difference in favor of screeners was significant among women age 45-49 years (2.6 pp; P = .001) but not among women age 40-44 years (0.9 pp; P = .328). Similarly, the incidence-based BC mortality rate was significantly lower in screener jurisdictions among women age 40-49 years and 45-49 years, but not for 40-44 years. Provincial/territorial NS increased significantly with higher mammography screening participation (P = .003). The BC incidence rate was virtually identical in screener and comparator jurisdictions among women age 40-49 years (P = .976) but was significantly higher for comparators among women age 50-59 years (P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Screening programs that included women in their 40s were associated with a significantly higher BC 10-year NS in women age 40-49 years, but not an increased rate of BC diagnosis. These results may inform screening guidelines for women age 40-49 years.

New Approaches and Recommendations for Risk-Adapted Breast Cancer Screening

Population-based breast cancer screening using mammography as the gold standard imaging modality has been in clinical practice for over 40 years. However, the limitations of mammography in terms of sensitivity and high false-positive rates, particularly in high-risk women, challenge the indiscriminate nature of population-based screening. Additionally, in light of expanding research on new breast cancer risk factors, there is a growing consensus that breast cancer screening should move toward a risk-adapted approach. Recent advancements in breast imaging technology, including contrast material-enhanced mammography (CEM), ultrasound (US) (automated-breast US, Doppler, elastography US), and especially magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (abbreviated, ultrafast, and contrast-agent free), may provide new opportunities for risk-adapted personalized screening strategies. Moreover, the integration of artificial intelligence and radiomics techniques has the potential to enhance the performance of risk-adapted screening. This review article summarizes the current evidence and challenges in breast cancer screening and highlights potential future perspectives for various imaging techniques in a risk-adapted breast cancer screening approach. EVIDENCE LEVEL: 1. TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 5.

Progress and Remaining Gaps in the Early Detection and Treatment of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer affects too many of us [...]

Skin Cancer Pathobiology at a Glance: A Focus on Imaging Techniques and Their Potential for Improved Diagnosis and Surveillance in Clinical Cohorts

Early diagnosis is essential for completely eradicating skin cancer and maximizing patients' clinical benefits. Emerging optical imaging modalities such as reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM), optical coherence tomography (OCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), near-infrared (NIR) bioimaging, positron emission tomography (PET), and their combinations provide non-invasive imaging data that may help in the early detection of cutaneous tumors and surgical planning. Hence, they seem appropriate for observing dynamic processes such as blood flow, immune cell activation, and tumor energy metabolism, which may be relevant for disease evolution. This review discusses the latest technological and methodological advances in imaging techniques that may be applied for skin cancer detection and monitoring. In the first instance, we will describe the principle and prospective clinical applications of the most commonly used imaging techniques, highlighting the challenges and opportunities of their implementation in the clinical setting. We will also highlight how imaging techniques may complement the molecular and histological approaches in sharpening the non-invasive skin characterization, laying the ground for more personalized approaches in skin cancer patients.

Breast Cancer Care Pathways for Women with Preexisting Severe Mental Disorders: Evidence of Disparities in France?

The excess cancer mortality in persons with severe mental illness (SMI) has been well documented, and research suggests that it may be influenced by care-related factors. Our objective was to assess breast cancer care pathways in women with SMI in France, using an exhaustive population-based data-linkage study with a matched case-control design. The cases were 1346 women with incident breast cancer in 2013/2014 and preexisting SMI who were matched with three controls without SMI presenting similar demographics, initial breast cancer type, and year of incidence. We compared cancer care pathways and their quality for cases and controls, using a consensual set of indicators covering diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, and mortality (until 2017). After adjusting for covariates, cases had lower odds to undergo the main diagnostic tests, lumpectomy, adjuvant chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, as well as hormone therapy, but higher odds for mastectomy. Suboptimal quality in cancer pathways was observed for both groups, but to a higher extent for cases, especially for not receiving timely care after diagnosis and post-treatment follow-up. Breast cancer mortality, considering competing risks of deaths, was significantly elevated in women with SMI. These findings highlight disparities in cancer care pathways for individuals with SMI, as well as specific aspects of the care continuum which could benefit from targeted actions to reach equity of outcomes.

The Impact of Organised Screening Programs on Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis for Canadian Women Aged 40-49 and 50-59

The relationship between Canadian mammography screening practices for women 40−49 and breast cancer (BC) stage at diagnosis in women 40−49 and 50−59 years was assessed using data from the Canadian Cancer Registry, provincial/territorial screening practices, and screening information from the Canadian Community Health Survey. For the 2010 to 2017 period, women aged 40−49 were diagnosed with lesser relative proportions of stage I BC (35.7 vs. 45.3%; p < 0.001), but greater proportions of stage II (42.6 vs. 36.7%, p < 0.001) and III (17.3 vs. 13.1%, p < 0.001) compared to women 50−59. Stage IV was lower among women 40−49 than 50−59 (4.4% vs. 4.8%, p = 0.005). Jurisdictions with organised screening programs for women 40−49 with annual recall (screeners) were compared with those without (comparators). Women aged 40−49 in comparator jurisdictions had higher proportions of stages II (43.7% vs. 40.7%, p < 0.001), III (18.3% vs. 15.6%, p < 0.001) and IV (4.6% vs. 3.9%, p = 0.001) compared to their peers in screener jurisdictions. Based on screening practices for women aged 40−49, women aged 50−59 had higher proportions of stages II (37.2% vs. 36.0%, p = 0.003) and III (13.6% vs. 12.3%, p < 0.001) in the comparator versus screener groups. The results of this study can be used to reassess the optimum lower age for BC screening in Canada.