Early Breast Cancer showing May Help A Little

Preliminary breast cancer showing as early as age 25 may help women who carry a genetic change linked to a higher risk of cancer live longer, suggests a new study.

[Results indicate that breast cancer deaths will decrease because of showing] study co-author Dr. Janie Lee, who specialize in breast at Massachusetts General Hospital, said by email.

Researchers looked at which breast cancer screenings mammogram or attractive meaning imaging were effective in women who carry gene mutations BRCA1 & BRCA2, known to increase the risk of breast & ovarian cancer. They looked at women aged 25, 30, 35 & 40 years.

Reported in the journal Cancer, found that compared to no showing at all, annual showing starting at age 25 extended life by 1.3 to 1.8 years. Showing with a breast every six months extended life by 1.5 to 1.7 years.

The tests were not perfect. Over the course of their lives, women with BRCA1 who began having mammograms at the age of 25 would have two false positives a finding that doesn’t turn out to be cancer. Those women with BRCA1 who had an annual mammogram & breast MRI would have four false positives.

For BRCA2 carriers, the matching numbers of false positives were three & eight.
The authors based their findings on a computer model that may not translate into real life, noted Dr. Carol Fabian, who specialize in breast cancer research at the University of Kansas & was not part of the study.

Fabian told Reuters Health: This is a model so they are applying things that have been learned in other studies.

In women 40 years or younger with breast cancer, about 1 in 10 are likely to have a BRCA alteration, according to the National Cancer Institute.

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