[ad_1]
A Wellington breast radiologist is investigating whether having dense breast tissue puts women at higher risk of developing cancer among mammograms, which are government-funded for women ages 45 to 69 every two years.
Your playlist will load after this ad.
Now a radiologist is investigating the link between dense tissue and disease. Source: 1 NEWS
Dr. Monica Saini has received $ 75,000 from the Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand for the study to be completed.
“We have a very different ethnic mix and so it’s hard to look at other countries and say how that reflects in New Zealand,” Saini said.
Women with increased dense breast tissue are at increased risk for cancer, and fibrous tissue can also mask the cancer from being detected on a mammogram, as both appear as white tissue on images.
The study will also look at factors such as ethnicity and family history.
The study will include a review of data from 200 women in the Wellington region with cancer that was detected between screenings, known as interval cancer, and 200 women from the same era who did not develop cancer.
“Our goal here is to collect data from the Wellington region and perhaps also with another DHB in the north, where we would have higher numbers of Maori and Pasifika so we can have statistically significant conclusions that we could draw,” Saini said.
Dr Saini said her goal is to determine if breast density is one of the reasons that Maori and Pasifika women have a higher rate of cancer that falls between detection and a higher incidence of breast cancer overall. .
“It’s more comprehensive to consider as many risk factors as we can because then we can advise policy on what the best screening regimen would be and how we can identify the women who are most at risk.”
Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand Executive Director Evangelia Henderson said the study will provide much-needed insight into breast density and interval cancers.
“We need to know which women are most likely to develop interval cancers, so we can improve our screening program,” Ms Henderson said in a statement.
Saini aims to use the study information for a second investigation in the future, examining which screening tool is the most effective, in terms of the cost of the test and the cancer detection rate, for screening these women who are are at high risk.
“We need to start doing that research to have that solution in hand and we are not waiting five to ten years to see what other countries are doing,” he said.
“Cost is certainly something, but I think you have to start with the fact that we don’t know how many women would be eligible,” she said.
Saini said the Netherlands has used magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, to decrease the rate of cancers detected between screenings, but that tool is one of the most expensive, while ultrasounds are cheaper but have a higher rate. of incorrect detections.
He said that between 40 and 50 percent of women in the United States have dense breasts.
It is not known how widespread the increase in dense tissue is in New Zealand, as the Ministry of Health does not measure density as part of the national screening program.
The Health Ministry declined to be interviewed, but said in a statement that density is not measured because there is insufficient evidence that additional testing for women with dense breasts would save lives.
He also said that there is no international agreement on the most effective way to measure breast density.
“New Zealand has followed the approach taken in most of Australia and the UK, which is that until there is evidence from best clinical practice on how breast density should be assessed and managed, we will not routinely assess or record density We will not provide supplemental screening tests for women with dense breasts, “she said.
“I don’t think we should wait and see what other countries do, I think we should take the initiative and get going,” Saini said.
Breast cancer survivor Nikki Slade Robinson is welcoming Saini’s research project after not knowing that she had dense breasts, that density was a cancer risk, or that it made mammograms less effective, when her cancer between screenings.
“I was really angry that currently the system in New Zealand does not give women that information … We have a right to that information about our own body,” said Slade Robinson.
She hopes the study findings will provide “enough evidence” for the Ministry of Health’s screening program to be updated.
“Ultimately, I would love to see the public screening program include an ‘x’ density in the results so that women know.”
Saini said it is important to be transparent with medical issues.
“In Western Australia, for example, for 10 years they have been informing women about the mammographic density of their breasts and what they have discovered through their research is that women are not considerably more anxious to know this information, they are more reported and as a result, compliance with attending regular screening mammograms has increased, ”he said.
Women who have mammograms in private clinics are more likely to have their density told to them.
Dr. Saini said that detecting cancer in a very dense breast is like “finding a snowball in a snowstorm.”
Slade Robinson said that if his cancer had been found earlier, his treatment would not have been as invasive.
“I wouldn’t have needed chemotherapy, maybe I just would have needed a lumpectomy but I had a mastectomy.”
She said she is sharing her experience because she wants other women to be screened more effectively.
“In the eastern Bay of Plenty, we have a high Maori population and Maori women are more predisposed to high breast density, so I am fighting for them too.”
The Ministry of Health is considering providing brochures with general information on breast density to women on mammograms.
Slade Robinson urges women to be aware of the risk of breast density.
“Get mammograms, self-exam; that’s really important, don’t stop, but also know your density and get an ultrasound too if you’re in that really dense group. ”
