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Archive for August, 2010

Mammography is less effective in breast cancer detection in women in their forties, concluded a recent study published recently in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

It is already known that mammography screening outcomes in women less than 50yrs is poorer when compared to older women and the main suggested attributes are lesser mammogram sensitivity in younger women due to dense breast tissue and faster tumor growth in younger women.

Sylvia K. Plevritis and colleagues from the of the Department of Radiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine investigated to determine which factor contributes most to the poor mammography outcomes. They used a computer simulated model to estimate and compare the relative effect of biology and technology on mammograms of women in their forties with those in fifties and sixties.

The researchers found that from their simulation model (Breast Cancer Screening Simulator) that lowered mammographic tumor detectability accounted for 79% and faster tumor volume doubling time accounted for 21% of the poorer sensitivity in mammography screening among younger women, compared with older women.

“The age-specific differences in mammographic tumor detection contribute more than age-specific differences in tumor growth rates to the lowered performance of mammography screening in younger women,” according to the authors.