Tag: cancer screening

Categories : CancerTags :

Defensiveness Keeping People from Taking at-home Colorectal Cancer Stool Tests

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash

Despite colorectal cancer being highly treatable, especially when detected early, many people do not undergo recommended screening, even with the availability of at-home stool faecal immunochemical test (FIT) kits. New research published in CANCER reveals that people who react defensively to the invitation to get screened are less likely to take part.

For the study, Nicholas Clarke, PhD, of Dublin City University in Ireland, surveyed individuals in Dublin who had been invited to participate in a FIT screening program in 2008–2012. Questionnaires were mailed in September 2015 to all individuals who were invited to participate (over two screening rounds) but had declined and a random sample of individuals who had participated. Following two reminders, questionnaires were completed by 1988 people who participated in screening and 311 who did not.

Those who did not do FIT-based screening were more likely to provide responses indicating greater defensiveness. This was apparent for all questions related to the different domains of what is called defensive information processing (DIP). The four domains of DIP include:

  • attention avoidance (reducing risk awareness by avoidance),
  • blunting (active mental disengagement through avoidance and accepted denial),
  • suppression (acknowledging others’ risk but avoiding personal inferences through self-exemption beliefs), and
  • counter-argumentation (arguing against the evidence).

“People who react defensively to the invitation to colorectal cancer screening are less likely to take part, and this seems to be due to such misconceptions that having a healthy lifestyle or having regular bowel movements means that they do not need to be screened. Similarly, some people believe testing can be delayed while they wait for a ‘better’ test (even though the current test works very well) or wait until their other health concerns are under control,” explained Dr Clarke. “Some people also react defensively because they believe cancer is always fatal, which is not true. All of these factors can result in people making a decision not to take the home-based screening test.”

Dr Clarke noted that the study’s findings indicate that even well-designed health communication campaigns and proactive screening programs may be hindered by individuals’ defensive beliefs. “The measures used in this study could be used to help identify people who may need extra support to take part in colorectal cancer screening programs worldwide,” he said. “The results suggest that screening programs need strategies to decrease procrastination and address misconceptions about colorectal cancer and screening.”

He also stressed the importance of trying to make colorectal cancer screening something that everyone routinely does when they reach middle age.

An accompanying editorial by Beverly Beth Green MD, MPH advocates for additional research to test different strategies, such as financial incentives, for decreasing DIP in participants.

Source: Wiley

Categories : CancerTags :

A New Analytical Technique for Dense Breast Tissue Mammograms

On By ModernMedia
Source: National Cancer Institute

Researchers have developed a two-pronged approach to imaging breast density in mice, resulted in better detection of changes in breast tissue, including spotting early signs of cancer. If applied in humans, the technology may also help with prognosis of disease as density can be linked to specific patterns of mammary gland growth, including signs of cancer development. The findings appeared in the American Journal of Pathology.

“Having a means to accurately assess mammary gland density in mice, just as is done clinically for women using mammograms, is an important research advance,” said Priscilla A. Furth, MD, professor of oncology and medicine at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and corresponding author of the study. “This method has the benefit of being applicable across all ages of mice and mammary gland shapes, unlike some methods used in earlier studies.”

While working as an undergraduate in Furth’s lab, Brendan Rooney developed an innovative analytic computer program (C’20), which allowed for sorting of mammary gland tissue to one of two imaging assessments. At first, Rooney looked at younger mouse glands and found that a program that removed background ‘noise’ in those images helped boost detection of abnormalities in what are typically rounder, more lobular tissues. But as aging occurs and the chances of developing cancer increase, lobules diminish and ridges become more apparent, just as falling autumn leaves expose tree branches. The mammary ridges represent ducts that carry milk and other fluids. When the de-noising technique was applied to the images from the older mice, it was found to be less reliable in detecting ridges. Therefore Rooney and the team turned to a different imaging program, which has primarily been used to detect blood vessel changes in the eye’s retina.

“The idea for the analytic program came from routine visual observations of tissue samples and the challenges inherent in observing differences in breast tissue with just a microscope. We found that visual human observations are important but having another read on abnormalities from optimal imaging programs added validity and rigor to our assessments,” says Rooney, the lead author of the study. “Not only does our program result in a high degree of diagnostic accuracy, it is freely available and easy to use.”

Now that the broad strokes of the research have been laid down and proof-of-principle has been established, Rooney has started medical school with a possible eye toward specializing in oncology. Both Furth and Rooney believe that future studies will need to refine and streamline their research approach in mice, including better density measurements that could enable sorting of samples into higher and lower probabilities of cancer.

Source: Georgetown University Medical Center

Categories : CancerTags :

New Recommendations for Earlier Breast Cancer MRI Screening

On By ModernMedia
This screening MRI detected a very small cancer (circled) in the patient’s breast.
Credit: Dr. Kathyrn Lowry

Annual MRI screenings starting at ages 30 to 35 may slash breast-cancer mortality by more than 50% among women with genetic changes in three genes, according to a study published in JAMA Oncology.

The pathogenic variants are in the ATM, CHEK2 and PALB2 genes – which collectively are as prevalent as the much-reported BRCA1/2 gene mutations. The study authors state that their findings support earlier MRI screening in these women.

“Screening guidelines have been difficult to develop for these women because there haven’t been clinical trials to inform when to start and how to screen,” said lead author Dr Kathryn Lowry.

The work was a collaboration of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET), the Cancer Risk Estimates Related to Susceptibility (CARRIERS) consortium, and the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium.

To arrive at their model, the researchers input age-specific risk estimates from CARRIERS involving some 64 000 women and recent published data for screening performance.

“For women with pathogenic variants in these genes, our modeling analysis predicted a lifetime risk of developing breast cancer at 21% to 40%, depending on the variant,” Dr Lowry said. “We project that starting annual MRI screening at age 30 to 35, with annual mammography starting at age 40, will reduce cancer mortality for these populations of women by more than 50%.”

The simulations compared the combined performance of mammography and MRI against mammography alone, and projected that annual MRI conferred significant additional benefit to these populations.

“We also found that starting mammograms earlier than age 40 did not have a meaningful benefit but increased false-positive screens,” Dr Lowry added.

Results from CISNET models have informed past guidelines, including the 2009 and 2016 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations for breast cancer screening in average-risk women.

“Modelling is a powerful tool to synthesise and extend clinical trial and national cohort data to estimate the benefits and harms of different cancer control strategies at population levels,” said senior author Dr Jeanne Mandelblatt.

The study projected about four false-positive screening results and one to two benign biopsies per woman over a 40-year screening span, the authors noted.

To get any benefit from genetic susceptibility-based screening guidelines, a woman would have to know beforehand that she carries the gene, yet most often a genetic test panel is done after a positive cancer result – too late for any benefit.

“People understand very well the value of testing for variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2, the most common breast cancer predisposition genes. These results show that testing other genes, like ATM, CHEK2, and PALB2, can also lead to improved outcomes,” said senior author Dr Mark Robson.

The researchers hope their analysis will aid the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), the American Cancer Society and other organizations that issue guidance for medical oncologists and radiologists.

“Overall what we’re proposing is slightly earlier screening than what the current guidelines suggest for some women with these variants,” said senior author Professor Allison Kurian. “For example, current NCCN guidelines recommend starting at age 30 for women with PALB2, and at 40 for ATM and CHEK2. Our results suggest that starting MRI at age 30 to 35 appears beneficial for women with any of the three variants.”

Source: University of Washington

Categories : CancerTags :

Unemployed People Missed Out on Cancer Screenings

On By ModernMedia
Source: National Cancer Institute

In a recent study, unemployed individuals in the US were less likely to have health insurance and be up to date on getting recommended cancer screening tests. Analyses published in the journal CANCER revealed that their lack of health insurance coverage completely accounted for their lower screening rates.

During the COVID pandemic, unemployment rates in the United States have risen to levels not seen since the Great Depression. To examine associations between unemployment, health insurance, and cancer screening, Stacey Fedewa, PhD, of the American Cancer Society, and her colleagues analysed information from adults under age 65 years who responded to a nationally representative annual survey of the general population.

Unemployed adults were four times more likely to lack insurance than employed adults (41.4% vs 10.0%). A lower proportion of unemployed adults had received up-to-date cervical (78.5% vs 86.2%), breast (67.8% vs 77.5%), colorectal (41.9% vs 48.5%), and prostate (25.4% vs 36.4%) cancer screening. These differences were eliminated after accounting for health insurance coverage.

“People who were unemployed at the time of the survey were less likely to have a recent cancer screening test and they were also less likely to be up-to-date with their cancer screenings over the long term. This suggests that being unemployed at a single point in time may hinder both recent and potentially longer-term screening practices,” said Dr. Fedewa. This can increase a person’s risk of being diagnosed with late-stage cancer, which is more difficult to treat than cancer that is detected at an early stage.

“Our finding that insurance coverage fully accounted for unemployed adults’ lower cancer screening utilisation is potentially good news, because it’s modifiable,” Dr Fedewa added. “When people are unemployed and have health insurance, they have screening rates that are similar to employed adults.”

The findings highlight insurance coverage’s importance in access to recommended cancer screening tests and indicate that insurance needs to be extended to all people, regardless of their employment status.

Source: Wiley