WOMENS HEALTH
Mammograms may benefit women well into their 80s, UCLA study finds
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
For many older women, the question of whether to continue breast cancer screening has been uncertain. While most guidelines recommend mammograms up to age 74, advice for women 75 and older has been less clear. Now, a new study from researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that regular mammograms may still offer significant benefits for women in their 80s.
The study, published in the Annals of Surgical Oncology, found that women in their 80s who get regular mammograms are more likely to have breast cancer detected early, need less aggressive treatment and live longer.
“When cancer is found on screening, it is often early stage,” said Dr. Nimmi Kapoor, an associate professor of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and senior author of the study. “In postmenopausal women with the most common hormone-sensitive breast cancers, we can often omit sentinel lymph node biopsy, chemotherapy, and sometimes even radiation. Screening is especially important in this era of de-escalation because early detection allows us to safely reduce the intensity of treatment while still achieving excellent outcomes.”
The number of older adults in the U.S. has grown rapidly over the past decade, and age is a major risk factor for breast cancer. As a result, determining the most effective way to screen older women has become increasingly important, the researchers noted. Yet guidance is limited, leaving many women and their doctors uncertain about when to continue or stop routine mammograms. Screening in older women also raises concerns about overdiagnosis, when cancers are detected that may never cause problems, and the associated costs.
With limited data on the benefits of mammography for women over 80, the researchers set out to compare outcomes between those who continued regular screening and those who did not.
The team analyzed medical records of 174 women aged 80 and older who were diagnosed with breast cancer at UCLA between 2013 and 2020. Most cancers were estrogen receptor–positive and HER2-negative and were mostly stage 1 or 2. Patients were divided into two groups: Those who had a mammogram within two years before their diagnosis (98 women) and those who did not (76 women). They then compared outcomes —including cancer stage at diagnosis, treatment intensity, and overall survival— between the two groups.
They found that women who did not have regular mammograms were more likely to have tumors that were advanced, high-grade or noticeable by touch. Screened women were more likely to have surgery to remove the tumor, while unscreened women sometimes omitted surgery altogether.
After a median follow-up of 55 months, they found women who were screened had a 55% lower risk of their cancer returning and a 74% lower risk of dying compared with women who were not screened. These advantages remained even after accounting for age, tumor type, and whether they had surgery.
"We were surprised to see such a significant survival difference among these women in their 80s," said Kapoor, who is also an investigator in the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Our findings underscore the importance of encouraging breast cancer screening in elderly patients, regardless of age, unless they have more pressing health issues. Current guidelines are vague and often left to the provider’s discretion, so studies like ours help provide much-needed data for this underrepresented population."
While the findings are encouraging, the researchers noted some limitations. The study looked back at medical records and only included women who were ultimately diagnosed with breast cancer, so it doesn’t capture potential downsides of screening, such as false positives, extra tests, or the emotional and financial stress on patients and their families. Larger studies are needed to confirm the benefits of mammograms for older women and to guide clearer screening recommendations.
The study’s first author is Dr. Siu-Yuan Huang, a recent graduate from the UCLA Health Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship. Other authors, all from UCLA, are Makaelah Murray, Angelique Rubio, Nneoma Okoro, Dr. Mina S. Sedrak, Dr. Susan A. McCloskey, Dr. Nicholas Jackson and Dr. Mediget Teshome.
Journal
Annals of Surgical Oncology
DOI
Ultrasound guidance compared with conventional methods reduces IUD insertion time
Ultrasound guidance can reduce IUD insertion time
American Academy of Family Physicians
Research Brief
Ultrasound Guidance Compared With Conventional Methods Reduces IUD Insertion Time
Background and Goal: Fear of pain can deter some patients from choosing intrauterine devices (IUDs). In this study, researchers investigated whether intrauterine device (IUD) insertion guided by ultrasound reduces procedure time and pain compared to conventional methods.
Study Approach: At a family medicine teaching health center, patients were assigned to an ultrasound-guided or a conventional IUD insertion group. In the ultrasound-guided group, clinicians used a transabdominal ultrasound to check the uterus, measure the distance from the cervix to the top of the uterus, and confirm IUD placement. They did not perform a bimanual pelvic exam or uterine sounding. In the conventional group, clinicians did a bimanual exam and uterine sounding before insertion. All procedures were performed by supervised family-medicine residents; ultrasound exams were done by a POCUS-trained family physician, or an OB-GYN. Pain was measured right after the procedure using a 0 to 10 scale. Total procedure time was measured in seconds.
Main Results: Twenty five patients were in the ultrasound-guided IUD insertion group and 22 patients in the conventional IUD insertion group.
The ultrasound-guided procedure time was significantly shorter than the conventional method.
There was no difference in pain scores between the two groups.
Procedure time did not correlate with pain levels.
Why It Matters: Ultrasound guidance during IUD insertion may improve procedural efficiency by reducing procedure time and may also improve workflow and support clinical decision making. Although procedure time was shorter for ultrasound guided IUD insertion, there was no significant difference in reported pain levels between groups.
Permanent link: Ultrasound Guidance Can Reduce IUD Insertion Time
Nayoung Sung, MD, et al
Rio Bravo Family Medicine Residency Program at Clinica Sierra Vista, Bakersfield, California
Journal
The Annals of Family Medicine
Article Publication Date
22-Sep-2025
Stopping Postnatal Haemorrhages: The BAMBI Medical Device from the Politecnico di Milano
Multidisciplinary research for an affordable kit to be mass produced for use in resource-poor settings
image:
The BAMBI kit including a connector, a rectal probe, a probe cover and a bag of saline solution fitted with a clamp
view moreCredit: Politecnico di Milano
A potentially life-saving device has been developed for new mothers in high-risk settings. This low-cost medical device to stop postpartum haemorrhages is the result of the BAMBI (Balloon Against Maternal BleedIng) project conducted by a multidisciplinary research team at the Politecnico di Milano. It is now ready for the final phase of testing, namely clinical trials on patients.
The project’s idea was put forward by Alberto Zanini, a gynaecologist and former head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit at the ‘Sacra Famiglia’ Hospital in Erba. During his volunteer work as a doctor in various African and South-East Asian countries with a high maternal mortality rate, he saw first-hand how serious and widespread the problem is. He therefore contacted the Politecnico di Milano to put his intuition into practice. A multidisciplinary team of professors and researchers from the ‘Giulio Natta’ Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering, the Department of Mechanics, and the Design Department (which was involved in the initial phase only) worked on the project.
‘With BAMBI, we want to show that it is possible to combine technological innovation with a social impact. Our goal is to offer a concrete, affordable and safe solution to stop postpartum haemorrhaging. We aim to make this device available wherever it is needed, even in the most vulnerable situations by using an essential, accessibility-oriented engineering approach and a “social” patent: in fact, all the researchers involved decided to waive any rights to the patent, in order for it to have the most possible widespread availability,’ explains Maria Laura Costantino, scientific coordinator of the BAMBI project and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering.
‘The multidisciplinary approach we took when designing the device made it possible to identify and experimentally test all the requirements needed to develop an effective and affordable solution,’ says Serena Graziosi, a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
BAMBI is an effective engineering solution that is simple and quick to apply, but most importantly, it is affordable. The prototype of the BAMBI device consists of a kit with components that are available in low-resource contexts, integrated with an innovative patented connector that guarantees the safety and assembly of the system, making it easy to use and mechanically efficient. The kit includes a rectal probe, probe cover and bag of saline solution fitted with a clamp. In the event of a uterine haemorrhage following delivery, the probe is inserted and positioned in the uterus. The probe cover, which is attached to the probe via the connector, is inflated with saline solution, turning it into a balloon that stops blood loss directly from the inside.
The experimental campaign for functional testing and usability analysis involving medical and nonmedical personnel showed that BAMBI is effective in terms of both procedural correctness and assembly time, even when used by non-expert personnel. This is an essential aspect. In areas afflicted by insufficient means and weak health facilities, it may be not only complicated, but sometimes even impossible to find specialised personnel. However, with BAMBI’s intuitive operation (printed and video instructions are included in the kit), anyone can operate it safely, saving lives.
BAMBI is now ready for the shift from the laboratory to production through a call for patent development programmes using funding for proof of concept projects as part of MUSA – Spoke 3 ‘Deep Tech: Entrepreneurship & Technology Transfer’, based on resources from the NRRP. The goal is to manufacture the connector, the key element of the kit, using injection moulding, so it can be mass produced at low cost (estimated at about $5). This will allow the device to be disseminated as widely as possible around the world, especially in resource-poor settings.
The project was already awarded by the Politecnico di Milano a Switch 2 Product grant in 2019 and a Polisocial Award in 2020. The research progress has also been documented through publications in scientific journals, including Scientific Reports, a journal in the Nature portfolio.
BAMBI's patented connector
The connector inabling BAMBI kit's assembly
Credit
Politecnico di Milano
Politecnico di Milano
Study finds wrist cooling represents a promising approach for managing hot flashes
(Boston)—Hot flashes which are sudden, temporary intense sensations of body warmth, often accompanied by flushing and sweating during the day and night (night sweats) are referred to as vasomotor symptoms (VMS). These VMS are associated with sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, severe fatigue, increased pain severity and decreased quality of life. Hot flashes affect up to 80% of women going through the menopause transition, 80% of men with prostate cancer undergoing or after completion of androgen deprivation therapy and 50-80% of breast cancer patients receiving hormone deprivation therapy.
The consequences of VMS experienced by perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, aging men and breast and prostate cancer patients cannot be overstated. These overwhelming devastating symptoms not only have a significant impact on the quality-of-life, affect decision-making for life preserving hormone deprivation therapy for breast cancer and prostate cancer patients but also have significant economic and societal consequences.
A new study from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine has shown that a wristband cooling device significantly reduced severe hot flash episodes among breast cancer, prostate cancer and postmenopausal women.
“Most non-hormonal pharmaceutical options for managing hot flashes are limited by significant side effects.and hormone replacement therapy is not appropriate for breast and prostate cancer patients who were on, or who have been treated with, hormone deprivation therapy. This creates an urgent need for safe, effective, non-pharmaceutical interventions suitable for diverse patient populations experiencing debilitating VMS,” explains corresponding author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, pharmacology, physiology & biophysics and molecular medicine at the school.
Twenty-seven participants (10 breast cancer, 12 prostate cancer, five postmenopausal women) experiencing at least two moderate-to-severe daily hot flashes were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind study to receive either the active wrist cooling device or an identical, non-cooling wrist band. After two weeks of baseline recordings, participants used their assigned device for two weeks, then crossed over to the alternative device for an additional two additional weeks. Their hot flash frequency and severity were recorded in personal diaries throughout the testing.
The researchers observed a 46% reduction in severe hot flash episodes. Subset analysis revealed a 41% reduction in severe episodes in breast cancer patients and 50% reduction in severe episodes in prostate cancer patients and postmenopausal women. It also reduced the number of daily hot flashes by 18%.
According to the researchers, the wrist with its high neurological sensitivity has been identified as an effective site for targeted cooling therapy and for the development of devices to treat and/or improve such conditions as motion sickness, Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and hand tremors. Holick believes that the wrist cooling device signals the body’s hypothalamus, through the cooling neuron signaling pathway, that the body is experiencing intense cooling. That shuts down the overheating signals for initiating and controlling vasodilation and sweating thereby mitigating the impending vasomotor response (hot flash).
These findings appear online in the journal Endocrinology and Diabetes.
(Boston)—Hot flashes which are sudden, temporary intense sensations of body warmth, often accompanied by flushing and sweating during the day and night (night sweats) are referred to as vasomotor symptoms (VMS). These VMS are associated with sleep disturbances, cognitive dysfunction, severe fatigue, increased pain severity and decreased quality of life. Hot flashes affect up to 80% of women going through the menopause transition, 80% of men with prostate cancer undergoing or after completion of androgen deprivation therapy and 50-80% of breast cancer patients receiving hormone deprivation therapy.
The consequences of VMS experienced by perimenopausal and postmenopausal women, aging men and breast and prostate cancer patients cannot be overstated. These overwhelming devastating symptoms not only have a significant impact on the quality-of-life, affect decision-making for life preserving hormone deprivation therapy for breast cancer and prostate cancer patients but also have significant economic and societal consequences.
A new study from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine has shown that a wristband cooling device significantly reduced severe hot flash episodes among breast cancer, prostate cancer and postmenopausal women.
“Most non-hormonal pharmaceutical options for managing hot flashes are limited by significant side effects.and hormone replacement therapy is not appropriate for breast and prostate cancer patients who were on, or who have been treated with, hormone deprivation therapy. This creates an urgent need for safe, effective, non-pharmaceutical interventions suitable for diverse patient populations experiencing debilitating VMS,” explains corresponding author Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD, professor of medicine, pharmacology, physiology & biophysics and molecular medicine at the school.
Twenty-seven participants (10 breast cancer, 12 prostate cancer, five postmenopausal women) experiencing at least two moderate-to-severe daily hot flashes were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind study to receive either the active wrist cooling device or an identical, non-cooling wrist band. After two weeks of baseline recordings, participants used their assigned device for two weeks, then crossed over to the alternative device for an additional two additional weeks. Their hot flash frequency and severity were recorded in personal diaries throughout the testing.
The researchers observed a 46% reduction in severe hot flash episodes. Subset analysis revealed a 41% reduction in severe episodes in breast cancer patients and 50% reduction in severe episodes in prostate cancer patients and postmenopausal women. It also reduced the number of daily hot flashes by 18%.
According to the researchers, the wrist with its high neurological sensitivity has been identified as an effective site for targeted cooling therapy and for the development of devices to treat and/or improve such conditions as motion sickness, Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and hand tremors. Holick believes that the wrist cooling device signals the body’s hypothalamus, through the cooling neuron signaling pathway, that the body is experiencing intense cooling. That shuts down the overheating signals for initiating and controlling vasodilation and sweating thereby mitigating the impending vasomotor response (hot flash).
These findings appear online in the journal Endocrinology and Diabetes.
DOI
Method of Research
Randomized controlled/clinical trial
Randomized controlled/clinical trial
Subject of Research
People
People
Article Title
Peripheral Thermoregulatory Modulation for Hot Flash Management: Efficacy of Novel Wrist Cooling Device in Cancer Treatment-Induced and Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms
Peripheral Thermoregulatory Modulation for Hot Flash Management: Efficacy of Novel Wrist Cooling Device in Cancer Treatment-Induced and Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms
Article Publication Date
20-Sep-2025
20-Sep-2025
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