By Luke Delaney
The story is all too familiar. A woman who has had normal mammogram results for years finds out that her cancer was missed on a mammogram because of dense breast tissue. Questions start running through her head – Why am I only discovering this now? How might this affect my family, and specifically my daughters? And most importantly – what does this mean for my breast care?
Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women and the second leading cause of death for women – with more 260,000 expected new cases in 2018 alone. A startling 71 percent of breast cancers are diagnosed in dense breasts.
A decade ago, most women were unaware of their breast density and the associated risks, as doctors were not obligated to disclose this information. Yet, women with dense breasts are more likely to develop breast cancer, and that mammography alone may not be a sufficient screening tool for these women.
Fortunately, today women are better informed - thanks to advancing technology and even legislative efforts, including in the United States. Breast imaging technology – ultrasound, mammography, X-ray, MR – continues to advance, equipping clinicians with the appropriate tools to effectively diagnose and treat their patients.
Even then, we have a long way to go.
One size does not fit all
Improving breast cancer detection will require precision diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment tailored to each patient. This method, we call Precision Health, uses data and analytics from diagnostics, therapeutics, and monitoring to offer insights that enable more predictive and personalized care.
With breast care, an individualized multimodality approach can help improve screening outcomes by increasing the detection of early invasive cancers and decreasing interval cancer rates.
For example, for women with dense breasts, both cancer and tissue appear white on a mammogram, and looking for cancer can be like looking for a snowball in a snowstorm. When used in addition to mammography, automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) can improve breast cancer detection by 55 percent over mammography alone - thus increasing the chances of early detection.
Our approach to breast care must be more personalized and collaborative to improve the patient’s experience and outcome.
