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For years, breast cancer screening has been based on a simple idea: having regular mammograms from a certain age onwards to detect tumours as early as possible.
The model works and remains one of the key tools for prevention. But not all women are at the same level of risk. And that raises the question that a new Spanish study seeks to answer: if the risk is not the same, should the follow-up be the same?
The project is called MamoRisk and is led by the Santiago de Compostela Institute of Health Research, the CNIO and the Southern Galicia Institute of Health Research. It is the first Spanish study designed to validate a personalised model for predicting the risk of breast cancer.
The study will include 4,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 6,000 women who are healthy. They all come from early detection programmes in 14 autonomous communities and have been monitored for at least six years.
The aim is to determine whether individual risk can be calculated more accurately by combining various data (age, family history, breast density, genetic variants and other clinical factors).
If the model works, it could help to organise monitoring more effectively. Some women may need closer monitoring. Others, perhaps, could avoid unnecessary tests.
Breast cancer remains one of the most common cancers in women. For this reason, any changes to screening programmes require substantial evidence, validation and caution. A risk model may sound promising, but it must demonstrate that it improves on existing approaches and that it can be applied in real-world practice without creating inequalities.
MamoRisk opens up the possibility of better preventing and detecting risk.
Sources
CNIO — The first Spanish study to predict personalised breast cancer risk gets underway:
https://www.cnio.es/noticias/arranca-el-primer-estudio-espanol-para-predecir-riesgo-personalizado-de-cancer-de-mama/
CNIO — MamoRisk project to validate in Spain a new breast cancer risk prediction model:
https://www.cnio.es/en/news/mamorisk-project-to-validate-in-spain-a-new-breast-cancer-risk-prediction-model/