RSNA: Study Suggests Significant Incidence of Invasive Breast Cancer in Young Women

Between 20 to 24 percent of breast cancer may occur in women between the ages of 18 and 49, according to new research to be presented today at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) conference.

For the retrospective study, researchers examined data from 1,799 cases of breast cancer detected in 1,290 women between the ages of 18 and 49 during an 11-year period at seven community outpatient breast imaging facilities in New York.

The study authors found that 24 percent of breast cancer in this cohort was detected in women under 40 years of age and 80.7 percent of the breast cancers in the entire cohort were invasive. In a recent interview with Diagnostic Imaging, Stamatia Destounis, M.D., a co-author of the study, noted the prevailing aggressive nature of tumors in this cohort.

“We also found that the grade of the tumors was higher in these young patients. They had high grade, more aggressive tumors, and they also had a higher percentage of triple-negative cancers … presenting more opportunity for metastatic disease and lymph node involvement,” noted Dr. Destounis, the managing partner of Elizabeth Wende Breast Care in Rochester, N.Y. “So (it’s) really important to understand that in these younger patients, these tumors are more aggressive and they're not the typical, possibly more low-grade, more well-behaving tumors that a more mature patient may get that is postmenopausal.”

(Editor’s note: For additional coverage of the RSNA conference, click here.)

The study authors found that 33 percent of the breast cancer cases in this younger cohort involved high-grade tumors and 59 percent of the cancers were detected on diagnostic exams as opposed to screening exams. Dr. Destounis lamented that for women under 40, there are “really no guidelines out there unless the patients have been very proactive and have had genetic testing.” Accordingly, she emphasized the need for more personalized risk assessments.

“I think we need to really move into personalized screening more and once we identify the patients that do require more screening, I do think we'll be able to capture these cancers earlier,” maintained Dr. Destounis.

(Editor’s note: For related content, see “Leading Breast Radiologists Discuss Rise of Breast Cancer Incidence in Women Under 40,” “Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Study Assesses Impact of Architectural Distortion on Malignancy Rates” and “Mammography Study: Multi-Stage Use of AI for DBT Exams Yields Over 21 Percent Increase in Breast Cancer Detection.”)

For more insights from Dr. Destounis, watch the video below.