News Releases
7/31/06
For young women who are at high risk for developing breast cancer, annual mammograms present a dilemma: the technology used delivers a tiny dose of radiation.
Scientists are not concerned about the minimal exposure for women beginning mammograms in their 40s or 50s. But for a 28-year-old woman already at high risk for the disease, the radiation of 30 or 40 mammograms spread over decades may be a concern.
With the help of a $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation, researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center plan to explore a procedure that uses light, not radiation, to determine breast density – a factor in assessing breast cancer risk. The ultimate goal of the research is to develop a complement to mammography that is inexpensive, noninvasive and useful for assessing breast cancer risk.
Although it is one of several factors, greater breast density increases a woman’s risk for breast cancer. The density is a measure of the ratio of fat cells, which cannot become cancerous, to other cells that comprise breast tissue. A higher density means there are fewer fat cells and larger numbers of other cells in the breast tissue, which have the capacity to become irregular or precancerous. That is why one reason to get a mammogram is to monitor the density of breast tissue, especially for changes over time.
For young women who are already considered at high risk for breast cancer – such as those with a genetic connection to the disease – an alternative to the mammogram may be beneficial, said Bruce Kimler, KU professor of radiation oncology at the medical center. Other high-tech choices, such as getting an MRI, are prohibitively expensive.
“I don’t think of the risk of radiation from mammography as being significant, but if we can avoid it, we should,” said Kimler. “If we can find something that is noninvasive to predict breast density and doesn’t cost $2,000, as an MRI might, that’s what we want to use.”
Kimler and Carol Fabian, professor of internal medicine, will direct a pilot study at KU’s Breast Cancer Prevention Center. Using the new technology, known as transillumination breast spectroscopy, or TIBS, the researchers will conduct a procedure that involves applying light throughout the breast. The light transmitted through the tissue is used to estimate the density of the breast.
While the new technology won’t help with detecting cancer, it could be a complement to traditional mammography, Kimler said.
TIBS was developed in Canada at the University of Toronto, which will partner with KU for the study. Kimler and Fabian hope to enroll 50 to 100 premenopausal women at high risk for developing breast cancer for the study.
Through the study, the researchers hope to collect data that will ultimately improve monitoring and prediction of potential breast cancer.
The grant from the Hearst Foundation Inc. to KU Endowment will fund equipment for the pilot study. Founded by William Randolph Hearst in 1945 and one of two Hearst Foundations, it assists institutions in providing opportunities to underserved and underrepresented populations in the areas of education, health, social service and culture.
KU Endowment is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.
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