Should breast cancer screening be targeted to those at greatest risk? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Breast cancer screening is associated with false positives, where women are referred for further assessments and procedures that may be unnecessary. Does it help to stratify women based on risk factors like genetics before they have screening? Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson says a recent study says no.

Nelson: What they found was there was no difference. The risk based training even though some women got less screening they didn't appear to miss significant cancers. The number of mammograms performed in the risk based group was less. Many of the women in the trial didn't pursue exactly what they were directed to do that ends up being complicated. I think what it does mean as a public health measure is that some kind of risk assessment in terms of how you do the intensity and the timing of screening could be very helpful.  :33

Nelson says more study is needed to identify these intervals. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.