Research: New tests which measure the water and oxygen content of tissue in women's breasts may be more effective in diagnosing breast cancer than the traditional mammogram, it is claimed in research being published today.
Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School in Washington, who have been examining the new testing methods as part of a five-year $7 million (€5.8 million) study, said breast cancer tissue was "more active" and therefore used more oxygen and blood to survive. They believe if these levels are monitored, they may lead to the early detection of breast cancer in a way which would be less invasive and more effective than mammography. The study's lead author, Dr Steven Poplack, said commercial versions of their tests were, however, at least 10 years away.
His team, whose work is being published today in the May issue of the journal Radiology, also looked at how normal breast tissue absorbed or scattered light using several types of electromagnetic wave. The three types of wave tested were infrared light, microwaves and low-level electrical currents. "It's very important to know what normal is before you can begin to characterise what abnormal is," Dr Poplack, a radiology professor, said.
The alternative tests were used on 23 white women aged between 40 and 79 years who had a history of normal mammograms. The research team is seeking another $10 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute to work on a second study using the new techniques on women who have had abnormal mammograms.
Ms Barbara Croft, head of the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Imaging Programme, said there was a need to find alternative ways to look inside the breast. The most common method of screening for breast cancer now is the use of mammograms - a type of X-ray - but this method has limitations. Experts say mammograms do not work as well on dense breast tissue, traditionally found in younger women but now also found among many post-menopausal women, and this can lead to doctors missing early-stage cancer in some women.
However, Dr Ian Fraser, consultant oncologist at Dublin's St Luke's Hospital, said mammograms were "still the method of choice" for diagnosing breast cancer. And many cancers which would otherwise go undiagnosed are picked up in the Republic every year by the national breast cancer screening programme, BreastCheck. In 2002, the programme detected eight cancers for every 1,000 women who presented for screening.
While new methods of screening are perfected, women have been urged to continue to check their breasts regularly for changes which might reflect the presence of a tumour. Older women should also attend for regular mammography screening.
- (Additional reporting: Reuters)