Swiftly Moving to Improved Early Breast Cancer Detection
According to one report, an ultrasound device has been approved and according to another report, a blood test has been designed for early breast cancer detection.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Breast Cancer screening device by U-Systems.
The device is somo•v Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) that will effectively detect dense breast tissue in women. Dense breast tissue increases the risk of breast cancer by up to 4-6 times. Moreover, it makes cancer detection difficult to be diagnosed by mammography, as one 2006 study showed that 35% of cases are not detected by mammography in women with dense breasts due to masking of tumors.
This device, after getting final pre-marketing (PMA) approval to detect breast cancer, would be the only ultrasound device in the U.S. for improved breast cancer screening in combination with mammography for asymptomatic women with dense breast tissue.
“We are very excited the FDA Panel recommended approval of a breast cancer screening indication for the somo•v ABUS system,” said Ron Ho, president and CEO of U-Systems. “If the FDA approves the somo•v PMA, this important adjunctive screening tool for women with dense breasts has the opportunity to become widely available in clinical practice. This is vitally important, because at least 40% of women in the United Stated have dense breast tissue.”
On the other hand, a team of scientists at the McGill University in Canada took blood of a group of healthy people and breast cancer patients and worked on 32 proteins in the blood samples. They found that out of 32 proteins six could be used to become a biomarker for the estrogen receptor-positive cancer, which is a common subtype of breast cancer. They have reported their findings in the April issue of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.
David Juncker, who led the study, said, "Mammography is slow and expensive, and it's uncomfortable. So, here the idea is you could do a test in a droplet of blood, and it could be more accurate than a mammograph."
"From this small study we cannot really make the claim, but the hope is that this could become more accurate," Juncker said . Mammography does not work well for women with dense breasts and thus many young and African-American women are actually not well served by the screening. "So this test could be complementary and more sensitive," Juncker said.
The day when we overcome all types of cancer will be our “Independence Day”.
Why not combine these two methods for more accuracy in early Breast Cancer detection?
(Image credit: Phanie/www.sciencesource.com)
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