New breast cancer screen raises questions about mammograms – State Column

For decades, mammograms have been the standard screen for breast cancer worldwide. Research over the course of the past few years, however, has called their effectiveness into question. A comprehensive study of 90,000 women uncovered a number of problems linked to mammography and its usefulness towards the goal of preventing breast cancer deaths, and some scientists are looking towards new methods for detecting the disease.

The biggest problem with mammograms is that they have the tendency to display false positives. In many instances, mammograms have detected growths that weren’t cancerous, and this resulted women undergoing unnecessary chemotherapy treatments. Much of the time, a simple breast exam would have resulted in a correct assessment of the patient’s health.

Now, doctors in London have developed a new blood test that they claim is much more accurate and much less invasive than traditional breast cancer screens. It locates traces of cancerous DNA left behind by tumors that were already treated with surgery or chemotherapy.

The experimental screen was able to identify the beginnings of breast cancer in 12 out of 15 women that ultimately relapsed months before traditional tests found the disease. The test is still in its early stages, and is geared towards detecting the risk of a relapse in women that have already undergone treatment for breast cancer.

At a time when the medical community is calling into question the efficacy of digital mammography, many people seems open to new screening methods. A tool that could accurately detect breast cancer DNA early on would save countless lives.