Enhanced imaging in addition to mammograms can triple the detection of breast cancers in women with dense breasts, according to a new study.
The research, published Wednesday in The Lancet, estimates that extra imaging for women with dense breasts could reduce mortality for about 20% of cancers detected, saving an additional 700 lives a year. About 40% of women have dense breast tissue, which is a risk factor for breast cancer and also makes it harder for radiologists to detect tumors on mammograms.
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In 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started requiring that mammograms state whether the person has dense or non-dense breast tissue and that other imaging, in addition to mammograms, "may help find cancers" in dense breasts.
But the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which makes recommendations to clinicians about screenings and other health measures, has concluded that "current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of supplemental screening for breast cancer" for women with dense breasts.
The majority of women at higher risk for breast cancer in the United States do not get supplemental imaging, according to a 2018 study.
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women aside from skin cancer. It accounts for 1 in 3 new cancer cases in U.S. women each year, according to the American Cancer Society.
The new study involved 9,361 women in the United Kingdom who had dense breasts and normal mammogram results showing no cancer. With enhanced screening, 85 more cancers were detected – 73 of which were invasive cancers, meaning the cancer had spread to surrounding tissue.
Enhanced screening methods included abbreviated MRI, which is quicker than a standard MRI, and contrast enhanced mammography, in which an iodine-based dye is injected into breasts to highlight abnormal tissue and vessels that may occur with cancer.