Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, JNCI, Lymphoma / 03.03.2016
Early Breast Cancer Screening Recommended For Survivors of Childhood Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_22284" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. David Hodgson[/caption]
David Hodgson, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Associate Professor
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON Canada
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Hodgson: We know that treatment for childhood Hodgkin lymphoma can cause some side effects that arise years after treatment is finished. In particular, radiotherapy given to the chest of adolescent females increases the risk of developing breast cancer in young adult survivors. But there are very little data about whether the early initiation of breast cancer screening will prevent breast cancer deaths in these survivors, and what kinds of screening is optimal. This is important because less than half of these young survivors are undergoing breast cancer screening, and in some jurisdictions early screening is not covered by insurance.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Dr. Hodgson: Because there has not been, and likely never will be, a large randomized screening trial for these patients, we used all the available information about their breast cancer risk, other health issues and the effectiveness of screening, and created a mathematical model that allows us to estimate the number of breast cancer deaths prevented by starting screening at age 25 for women who had received chest RT as teenagers. We found that one would have to invite about 260 survivors to early mammographic screening to prevent one breast cancer death, which compares favorably to other accepted reasons for breast cancer screening. Using MRI for screening, approximately 80 women would have to be invited to prevent one breast cancer death, because MRI is so much more sensitive than mammography. One of the problems with MRI, however, is that a substantial number of women will have "false positive" tests - abnormal findings that are not really cancer.
Dr. David Hodgson[/caption]
David Hodgson, MD, MPH, FRCPC
Associate Professor
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON Canada
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Hodgson: We know that treatment for childhood Hodgkin lymphoma can cause some side effects that arise years after treatment is finished. In particular, radiotherapy given to the chest of adolescent females increases the risk of developing breast cancer in young adult survivors. But there are very little data about whether the early initiation of breast cancer screening will prevent breast cancer deaths in these survivors, and what kinds of screening is optimal. This is important because less than half of these young survivors are undergoing breast cancer screening, and in some jurisdictions early screening is not covered by insurance.
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?
Dr. Hodgson: Because there has not been, and likely never will be, a large randomized screening trial for these patients, we used all the available information about their breast cancer risk, other health issues and the effectiveness of screening, and created a mathematical model that allows us to estimate the number of breast cancer deaths prevented by starting screening at age 25 for women who had received chest RT as teenagers. We found that one would have to invite about 260 survivors to early mammographic screening to prevent one breast cancer death, which compares favorably to other accepted reasons for breast cancer screening. Using MRI for screening, approximately 80 women would have to be invited to prevent one breast cancer death, because MRI is so much more sensitive than mammography. One of the problems with MRI, however, is that a substantial number of women will have "false positive" tests - abnormal findings that are not really cancer.
Dr. Grace Wang[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Grace Wang MD FACS
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Medical Research: What is the background for this study?
Dr. Wang: PAD is a major source of morbidity and mortality resulting in functional impairment, limb loss, as well as death. Despite epidemiologic studies which have contributed to our understanding of PAD prevalence and its association with traditional atherosclerotic risk factors, there have been conflicting studies published on the incidence of PAD and differences in treatment outcomes in women versus men. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at particularly high risk for 
