Researcher Explains How Women Respond to a False Positive Breast Cancer Screening Result
After a false positive outcome on screening mammography, a short interval call back for repeat imaging was a significant deterrent to future screening.
Diana Miglioretti, PhD, has co-lead the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium for 20 years, tapping the group of US breast imaging registries for data that can be used to enhance the process and outcomes of breast cancer screening. The current study was designed to see if women who receive a false positive finding after a screening mammogram return for another screening test within 30 months. Miglioretti and colleagues were surprised by the characteristics of the subgroup of study participants who were least likely to return. She explains the findings in the recent interview above with Patient Care.®
Diana Miglioretti, PhD, is professor and division chief of biostatistics in the University of California Davis School of Medicine's department of public health sciences and an affiliate investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. Miglioretti co-leads the US Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium, a network of breast imaging registries with information collected on more than 13 million breast imaging examinations since 1994.
