News | Mammography | June 08, 2017

According to Yale Cancer Center experts, many small breast cancers have promising prognosis

mammogram

Photo courtesy of Barco


An analysis of breast cancer data revealed that many small breast cancers have an excellent prognosis because they are inherently slow growing, according to Yale Cancer Center experts. Often, these cancers will not grow large enough to become significant within a patient's lifetime and subsequently early detection could lead to overdiagnosis, said the reseachers. In contrast, large tumors that cause most breast cancer deaths often grow so quickly that they become intrusive before they can be detected by screening mammography, they note.

The study, published June 8 in the New England Journal of Medicine, questions the value of breast cancer early detection.

"Our analysis explains both how mammography causes overdiagnosis and also why it is not more effective in improving outcomes for our patients. More importantly, it questions some of our fundamental beliefs about the value of early detection," said Donald R. Lannin, M.D., professor of surgery at Yale School of Medicine and lead author on the paper.

The research team analyzed invasive breast cancers diagnosed between 2001 and 2013 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database and divided them into three prognostic groups based on biologic factors: grade, estrogen receptor (ER) status, and progesterone-receptor (PR) status. The three biologic categories were defined as favorable, intermediate, and unfavorable.

The team, which also included Shiyi Wang, M.D., assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, then used the expected rate of overdiagnosis of 22% to model the types of breast cancers and patient age ranges that likely account for the majority of overdiagnosis. The results showed that most overdiagnosis occurred in older patients with biologically favorable, slow-growing tumors.

"Until now, we thought that the lead time, or time until a cancer becomes problematic for a patient, for most breast cancers was about three or four years. This paper shows that lead times vary widely depending on the tumor type. A large portion of aggressive cancers have a lead time of two years or less, whereas another large portion of breast cancers grow so slowly that the lead time is 15 to 20 years," Lannin explained.

"It is important that we educate physicians, patients, and the public on the indolent, slow-growing nature of some breast cancers. This knowledge will allow us to individualize treatment options, provide 'personalized medicine,' and avoid the major harms of overdiagnosis, which can result in overtreatment and the anxiety and fear that a cancer diagnosis causes," Lannin said.

For more information: www.nejm.org


Related Content

News | Breast Imaging

July 8, 2025 — QT Imaging Holdings, has appointed Elaine Iuanow, MD, as chief medical officer (CMO) and Kim Du as senior ...

Time July 09, 2025
arrow
News | Breast Imaging

July 7, 2025 — SimonMed Imaging, one of the largest outpatient medical imaging providers in the United States, has ...

Time July 08, 2025
arrow
News | Breast Imaging

June 25, 2025 — QT Imaging Holdings, Inc., a medical device company engaged in research, development, and ...

Time June 25, 2025
arrow
News | Women's Health

June 23, 2025 — Susan G. Komen, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, recently announced it is awarding $10.8 ...

Time June 23, 2025
arrow
Feature | Women's Health | Christine Murray

In breast cancer detection, speed and accuracy are more than clinical goals – they can significantly increase chances ...

Time June 17, 2025
arrow
News | PET Imaging

May 30, 2025 — GE HealthCare recently announced that the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) ...

Time May 30, 2025
arrow
News | Imaging Software Development

May 27, 2025 — DeepLook Medical, a company advancing medical imaging through visual enhancement technology, recently ...

Time May 28, 2025
arrow
News | Breast Imaging

May 13, 2025 — In one of the larger studies of its kind, researchers have identified six breast texture patterns that ...

Time May 16, 2025
arrow
News | Mammography

April 29, 2025 — iCAD, a global provider of clinically proven AI-powered cancer detection solutions, has announced a ...

Time April 29, 2025
arrow
News | Mammography

April 24, 2025 — GE HealthCare will feature its latest advancements in diagnostic accuracy and patient-centered breast ...

Time April 24, 2025
arrow
Subscribe Now