Risk-Stratified Screening May Improve the Balance of Screening Benefits and Harms
BCSC investigator Dr. Diana Miglioretti presented a keynote address highlighting the potential benefit of risk-stratified screening
BCSC researcher Dr. Diana Miglioretti presented the keynote address to the Society for Breast Imaging on April 5, 2019. She talked about how risk-stratified screening offers the potential to improve the balance of screening benefits to harms by tailoring screening intensity and modality to individual risk factors. She showed examples illustrating how women can consider their risk factors for deciding when to start screening, how often to screen, and whether to use supplemental imaging. Specifically, women should consider starting screening when their chance of benefiting is high enough to warrant the test given the risk of potential harms (e.g., if they 40 years old and at twice the average risk); women should consider supplemental screening if they have a high risk of an advanced or interval breast cancer within 1 year of a screen; and women should consider screening annually instead of biennially if they have a high risk an advanced or interval breast cancer following biennial screening. Consideration of screening benefits should be balanced against the risk of harms, which also depends on risk factors. She highlighted the BCSC’s freely available risk calculator (breast cancer risk calculator) and discussed how it can be used to inform screening decisions.
Her presentation was covered by Imaging Technology News:
https://www.itnonline.com/article/how-risk-stratification-might-affect-women’s-health
A Video Interview is available here:
https://www.itnonline.com/videos/video-age-interval-and-other-considerations-breast-screening
Posted by: Diana Miglioretti, PhD