With more than half a million deaths worldwide due to breast cancer each year, medical professionals have good reason to seek alternate methods of detecting the disease. According to research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, ultrasounds may be a good supplement to the mammogram in some cases and may be an effective replacement in cases where mammograms are not available.
With more than half a million deaths worldwide due to breast cancer each year, medical professionals have good reason to seek alternate methods of detecting the disease. According to research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, ultrasounds may be a good supplement to the mammogram in some cases and may be an effective replacement in cases where mammograms are not available.
For women with dense breasts, ultrasounds are actually better at detecting masses. They are also superior to mammograms at detecting node-negative and invasive cancers. However, they also have a higher rate of false positives, and they are also more vulnerable to operator error and misinterpretation than the mammogram.
False positives are a particular concern because women may undergo procedures like biopsies that are unnecessary as well as suffering a great deal of stress. However, some doctors say that women should work with their doctors to choose the best course of treatment based on their circumstances. For example, women with a high-risk medical history who cannot tolerate MRIs and women with dense breasts may want to have an ultrasound as a backup diagnostic. Because they are less expensive and more portable than mammograms, ultrasounds may also be used in countries where mammograms are less available.
Women who have faced a delayed or missed diagnosis of breast cancer due to misread test results, a failure of a physician to follow up on an abnormal test result or for other reasons may have a poorer prognosis than women who are diagnosed early. Breast cancer might even be fatal as a result of a delayed diagnosis. The patient or the family of the patient in situations like these may want to file a lawsuit against the medical professionals who made the error.
