Emerging Breast Cancer Risk Predictor
New research indicates that background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) on breast MRIs may be a more effective indicator of breast cancer risk for Black women than traditional breast density measurements. This finding could help address persistent mortality disparities by improving early detection.
Why it matters
Identifying more accurate risk factors for specific demographics is crucial for reducing health disparities and improving cancer survival rates.
Breast density has become a cornerstone of breast cancer risk assessment and decisions about supplemental MRI screening. But new research suggests another MRI finding - background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) - may reveal important risk information that density alone misses, particularly for Black women.
"Black women in the U.S. have 40% higher breast cancer mortality compared to white women," said Anne Marie McCarthy, ScM, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. "This disparity has been very persistent over the past several decades."
Dr. McCarthy coauthored a Radiology study finding that Black women were more likely than white women to exhibit high BPE on breast MRI, even though they were less likely to have extremely dense breasts.
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