It's Time to Improve Methods for Breast-Cancer Detection

It has been more than six years since I was first diagnosed with breast cancer at age 35. Since then, my life has changed in more ways than I could have imagined. I became an activist, founding a nonprofit advocacy organization for Latin American women with breast cancer. And I learned that I am by no means alone. Each year, more than 180,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed and more than 40,000 women die from it. Breast cancer is still a leading cause of cancer death in this co

Carolina Hinestrosa

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I also learned a lot about what is needed to fight this disease. One of the most obvious areas for improvement is in breast-cancer detection. Since the 1970s, X-ray film mammography has been the main tool for breast-cancer screening. And indeed, mammography has contributed to a reduction in mortality from breast cancer. But it also has many serious limitations. X-ray mammography does not detect all cancers, including some that are picked up by physical examination. Mammograms are particularly difficult to interpret for women with dense breast tissue, which is especially common in younger women. In addition, some tumors may develop too quickly to be identified at the most treatable stage by using annual screening mammograms.

And because there is still limited understanding of the biology and progression of breast cancer, mammograms can sometimes lead to more questions than answers. For example, as many as three-quarters of all breast lesions that ...

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