Private MD News

Researchers say follow-up breast cancer testing may not be necessary

Category: Breast

Lab tests for breast cancer do not always deliver clear-cut results. Sometimes a test may indicate the presence of a growth, but this does not necessarily mean that it is cancerous. Still, most doctors will choose to follow up with patients who receive these suspicious results with an MRI-guided needle biopsy.

However, a team of researchers Yale-New Haven Hospital says that this follow-up procedure may not be necessary. The tracked the diagnoses of 114 women who were initially found to have suspicious lesions. The participants were followed for up to three months.

The results showed that none of the women in the study were ultimately diagnosed with breast cancer through follow up MRI biopsies. The researchers said their findings indicate that it may be possible to eliminate this follow-up procedure for women whose initial lab test results do not show cancerous growths.

This could be a good thing for patients, because a needle biopsy can be an invasive procedure that requires recovery time. Helping more women avoid this test when it is not actually needed may benefit many individuals.