Question

Disease Summary Question 9. Briefly distinguish between a false-positive and a false-negative mammogram. Disease Summary Please provide references in APA format.

Answer 1

Mammograms are the easiest and the best breast cancer screening tests at present. But like any other diagnostic tests, mammograms also have their limitations. It is not considered 100% accurate in detecting breast cancer.

A false-negative mammogram: It is the one which looks normal even though the patient has breast cancer. Overall, screening mammograms do not find about 1 in 5 breast cancers.2The women with dense breasts are prone for more false-negative results. 3 The false negative results are more common in younger, as the breasts become less dense as the age progresses. False-negative mammograms can mislead women and they will provide a false sense of security.The false-negative mammogram may hinder or delay the treatment when the disease is actually present. It can interfere with the disease prognosis and treatment outcome.

A false-positive mammogram: The mammogram looks abnormal even though there is no cancer. It is a potential screening harm. The occurrence and its impact are currently being evaluated by the United States Preventive Services Task Force.1 A false-positive mammogram seems to be abnormal even though there is no cancer. This will cause unnecessary tensions and wastage of healthcare expenditure. 3 Abnormal or false-positive mammogram also require additional diagnostic measures like diagnostic mammograms, ultrasound, MRI or breast biopsy to determine the presence of cancer. Some women may be deterred form future mammograms. 4The chance of false-positive finding is the highest for the first mammogram. The availability of past mammograms for comparison reduce the chance of a false-positive finding by about 50%.

In order to minimize the negative effect of abnormal findings, inform women regarding the possibility of an abnormal diagnostic report before the test. Collect the previous mammograms for comparison if possible.

References:

1. Tosteson AN, Fryback DG, Hammond CS, Hanna LG, Grove MR, Brown M, Wang Q, Lindfors K, Pisano ED. Consequences of false-positive screening mammograms.JAMA Intern Med. 2014 Jun;174(6):954-61.

2. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/screening-tests-and-early-detection/mammograms/limitations-of-mammograms.html#references

3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22311/

4. Elmore JG, Barton MB, Moceri VM, Polk S, Arena PJ, Fletcher SW. Ten-year risk of false positive screening mammograms and clinical breast examinations. N Engl J Med. 1998;338(16):1089–1096.