Breast Cancer

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued new guidance on breast cancer screenings, which recommends that all women now get screened for breast cancer every other year starting at age 40. 

“More women in their 40s have been getting breast cancer, with rates increasing about 2% each year, so this recommendation will make a big difference for people across the country,” said Dr. Wanda Nicholson, chair of the USPSTF. “By starting to screen all women at age 40, we can save nearly 20% more lives from breast cancer overall. This new approach has even greater potential benefit for black women, who are much more likely to die of breast cancer.” 

Do the recommendations apply to you? 

The USPSTF broke down the do’s and don’ts of these new screening recommendations. 

The organization says that these recommendations apply to:

• Everyone assigned female at birth 

• Those with a family history of breast cancer

• Those with dense breasts 

On the flip side, these recommendations don’t apply to: 

• Those with a personal history of breast cancer

• Those who are at a higher risk of breast cancer because of genetic markers or high-dose exposure to radiation

• Those who have had high-risk breast lesions on previous biopsies 

Saving more lives

The USPSTF is an independent volunteer panel of medical professionals that issues guidance on preventive clinical services. When it comes to breast cancer, the organization looked at the most recent evidence and made the change in an effort to save more lives. 

Prior to this new guidance, the organization had recommended that women in their 40s make their own decisions about getting screened for breast cancer depending on their health history and general preferences. 

However, given the latest data on breast cancer statistics, starting screening earlier can be beneficial for all women. Now, the USPSTF recommends that mammographies take place every other year from the age of 40 through 74. 

For women over the age of 75, the agency recommends that they consult with their doctors. As it stands right now, more research needs to be done to determine the pros and cons of continued screening in later life. 

“We need to know how to best address the health disparities related to breast cancer so all women can live longer and healthier lives,” said Dr. John Wong, vice chair of the USPSTF. “Clinicians must help reduce any barriers to patients getting the recommended screening, timely, equitable, and appropriate follow-up, and effective treatment of breast cancer.” 

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to make headlines, a new Sweden-based study looked at the ways AI can benefit long-term health. 

The study focused on mammogram screenings and readings to determine whether or not women had breast cancer. Experts utilized AI to support the screenings and read the results of the tests, and compared their accuracy with a standard radiologist’s screening. 

Ultimately, the combination of AI and experienced radiologists led to 20% more cancer diagnoses compared to cases looked at solely by radiologists. This is an encouraging result, as early detection of the disease is likely to lead to better health outcomes for patients. 

Detecting disease

The researchers had over 80,000 women between the ages of 40 and 80 who were eligible for mammograms participate in the study. Half of the women received their screening and had the report read by two experienced radiologists, while the other half received their screening and had the results read by a combination of AI and experienced radiologists. 

The combination of the technology and the radiologists proved to be effective at detecting more cases of cancer than just the radiologists alone. In the AI group, 244 cases of cancer were identified, and 861 women were called back for further testing.

In the radiologist-only group, 203 cases of cancer were identified, and 817 women were called back for further testing. 

The overall cancer detection rate was 6.1 per 1,000 women in the AI group, compared with 5.1 per 1,000 women in the radiologist-only group. 

How does it work?

Experts from BreastCancer.org explained that doctors basically teach AI what a normal mammogram looks like versus what a cancerous mammogram looks like by inputting millions of images of different scans. 

Then, once a new image is uploaded into the system, an algorithm determines whether the patient has a clear scan, needs further testing, or has cancer. Typically, two radiologists read the scans to determine the outcome, and this technology can help detect more details in mammography scans. 

Will AI be at your next doctor’s appointment?

Though these findings are promising, the study remains ongoing and experts believe that more work needs to be done to fine-tune this technology. However, these results are a good starting point for more in-depth research in this area that can benefit consumers’ health. 

“These promising interim safety results should be used to inform new trials and program-based evaluations to address the pronounced radiologist shortage in many countries,” lead researcher Dr. Kristina Lång said in a statement. “But they are not enough on their own to confirm that AI is ready to be implemented in mammography screening.

Lang said health researchers still need to understand the implications on patients’ outcomes, especially whether combining radiologists’ expertise with AI can help detect interval cancers that are often missed by traditional screening, as well as the cost-effectiveness of the technology. 

“The greatest potential of AI right now is that it could allow our radiologists to be less burdened by the excessive amount of reading," Lang said. "While our AI-supported screening system requires at least one radiologist in charge of detection, it could potentially do away with the need for double reading of the majority of mammograms, easing the pressure on workloads and enabling radiologists to focus more on advanced diagnostics while shortening the waiting time for patients.” 

A new study recently published in the Journal of Oncology explored how different treatments can benefit breast cancer patients. The findings show that utilizing integrative lifestyle therapies – which include things like exercise, nutrition counseling, yoga, and spiritual services – may improve breast cancer survival rates. 

“Access to basic integrative health care services in cancer care not only supports a higher quality of life, but this study also shows that these services increase a patient’s chance of survival,” said researcher Dr. Wayne Jonas. “These findings serve as a call to action for hospitals and oncologists to support a whole-person approach to cancer care.” 

Comprehensive treatments lead to better results

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from nearly 5,000 people who had been recently diagnosed with breast cancer between 2013 and 2014. The team evaluated survey responses from over 100 oncologists about what kinds of treatments they provided their breast cancer patients, including alternative therapies. 

The study focused on a dozen different holistic offerings, including massage therapy, Reiki, spiritual services, nutrition, acupuncture, patient support groups, music therapy, art therapy, psycho-oncology support, exercise, meditation, tai chi, and yoga. The researchers learned that these integrative therapies were associated with better survival outcomes for breast cancer patients. 

Ultimately, patients had better survival rates when hospitals offered more integrative therapies. The study showed that offering patients even a moderate number of these treatments can make survival up to three times more likely over five years. 

Based on these findings, the researchers hope more health care facilities adopt these integrative treatments for breast cancer patients. Having these therapies available onsite can be a helpful way to create more thorough treatment plans.

“Patients can play an active role in their cancer treatment and outcomes – but they are much more likely to do it with approval and help from their health system,” said researcher Terri Crudup. “Oncologists and institutions that treat these patients need to consider providing education, support, and funding for these complementary and lifestyle therapies.”