Is Supplemental Sonographic Screening Worthwhile in Women with Dense Breasts?

Many states have mandated that women found to have dense breasts at screening mammography should be informed and that their clinicians should discuss supplemental screening, including ultrasonography, with them. Using a comparative modeling strategy, investigators funded by the National Cancer Institute estimated benefits, harms, and costs of supplemental screening ultrasonography.

For women aged 50 to 74 with heterogeneously or extremely dense breasts, compared with biennial screening mammography alone, supplemental screening ultrasound when mammography was negative would generate 3827 ultrasound examinations, prevent 0.36 deaths from breast cancer, increase quality-adjusted life-years by 1.7 (<20 hours per woman) and lead to 354 biopsy rec…