Dr. Laura Esserman, the UC San Francisco surgeon, will undertake a five-year study called WISDOM that will use technology to improve breast cancer screening and patient results, Medical Xpress reports.
Esserman is head of the Athena Breast Health Network, which is a collaboration of the five University of California medical centers and partners that will soon launch the WISDOM, Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk, study.
The study will investigate if a personalized approach to screening for breast cancer is as safe and effective as annual mammograms.
"Breast cancer is, in fact, many diseases," Esserman said.
"Some can be indolent (unlikely to cause patients harm) and some can be very aggressive. We don't want to treat them the same. Two people might walk into my office, both age 50, have the same size tumor, but it might be appropriate to have different treatments. A patient may have a condition that doesn't make radiation possible. You have to make sure patients understand all of their options and are comfortable with their decisions because there's more than one choice."
According to Esserman, there are five things that women should know about breast cancer. Firstly, not all breast cancers are the same or need the same approach. Secondly, not all breast cancer cases are life-threatening cases. More than 1 in 5 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in U.S. women are stage zero or DCIS, according to the American Cancer Society. Thirdly, not every woman needs to undergo screening for breast cancer. Fourthly, women should participate in clinical trials to ensure improvements in clinical care.
Esserman encourages women to join the WISDOM study.
"We're trying to recruit 100,000 women for the WISDOM study," Esserman said. "We're asking women to share their stories and their wisdom. The only way to know better is to study the alternatives. In screening, the only way to know better is to be part of the WISDOM study."
Lastly, precision medicine shows promise.
"The essence of precision medicine is being able to tailor treatment to biology, patient preference and clinical performance," Esserman said.
"This is not a study that any one institution could accomplish on its own. UC is really interested in population health, and we have the power to collect and address these big issues that matter to the public. I think that we're going to find this is a much more efficient way to screen. It will help us figure out how best to prevent breast cancer," Esserman said.
