Most women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer are given imaging tests to look for distant growths, despite official guidelines according to a new study. The research team found that over 79 per cent of women with stage I breast cancer, and over 92 per cent with stage II, received imaging tests despite having a less than two per cent risk for developing distant metastases.
The researchers studied data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences as well as the Ontario Cancer Registry between 2007 and 2012.
They believe imaging tests are being overused in stage I and II breast cancer patients due to a combination of uncertainty regarding guidelines from physicians as well as patient-related factors.
Original research paper published in CMAJ on June 22, 2015.
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