Weill Cornell Medical College New York, New York
Professor of Clinical Radiology
Evaluating the use of contrast-enhanced spectral mammography as a breast cancer screening option for women with dense breast tissue.
About 40 percent of women over the age of 40 have dense breasts. The condition, characterized by relatively high amounts of glandular and fibrous connective tissue and low amounts of fatty breast tissue, can make reading and detecting breast cancer on a mammogram difficult. Current guidelines recommend supplemental screening with whole breast ultrasound, however, this can result in false positives, as does screening with MRI. The Contrast-Enhanced Mammography Imaging Screening Trial (CMIST), conducted by the American College of Radiology, is an effort to improve early breast cancer detection while reducing false positive results in women with dense breasts. Contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) is a promising new tool for breast cancer screening that is not limited by breast density. Early studies have shown that CESM improves the number of cancers detected by 70-80 percent compared to a conventional mammogram in women with dense breasts. CMIST is a collaborative effort with BCRF and GE Healthcare to support this groundbreaking trial led by Dr. Comstock.
The CMIST trial compares the performance of CESM to standard mammography in detecting breast cancer in women with dense breasts. Carolina Breast Imaging Specialists (CBIS) in Greenville, North Carolina is the first of 15 planned sites for the multi-center trial that has begun recruiting participants to the study. The CMIST trial has the potential to change the way women with dense breasts are screened for breast cancer, replacing standard mammography with a single and effective test.
Additional sites across the United States and Canada will initiate recruitment in the coming months, with a goal of approximately 2,032 participants. The landmark trial is set to deliver the first results in 2025.
Learn more about the study here.
Christopher Comstock, MD is a professor of radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He earned his medical degree from Tulane in 1990 and finished his residency in radiology in 1995 at Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans. Following his residency, he completed a fellowship in Breast Imaging at the University of Chicago. Dr. Comstock then worked as an assistant professor of radiology at the University of Chicago and later at Northwestern University Hospital’s Lynn Sage Breast Center. Dr. Comstock then went on to be the director of breast imaging at The University of California San Diego followed by director of Breast Imaging Clinical Trials and an attending radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In 2006 he completed a 2-year ACRIN fellowship in clinical trials in medical imaging
His current research includes evaluation of the supplemental yield of whole breast screening ultrasound to screening tomosynthesis and contrast-enhanced digital mammography and abbreviated breast MRI. He is Co-PI of an active multicenter trial titled Effect of Preoperative Breast MRI on Surgical Outcomes, Costs and Quality of Life of Women with Breast Cancer (Alliance A011104/ACRIN 6694) and Study chair of the recent ECOG-ACRIN trial EA1141, “Comparison of Abbreviated Breast MRI and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis in Breast Cancer Screening in Women with Dense Breasts”.
Dr Comstock has co-authored textbooks on abbreviated breast MRI and breast cancer imaging, written several book chapters, been involved in numerous breast imaging publications and has given over 500 invited lectures. His past professional service includes Chair of the ACR Breast Ultrasound Accreditation program, ABR Oral Board examiner, member of the NCI BOLD task force, Chair of the RSNA Breast Refresher course program and Chair of the ACRIN Institutional Participants committee. He is currently the Imaging Co-Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Breast Committee and ACR Committee on BI-RADS Breast MRI Chair. In 2014 Dr Comstock was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Radiology.
2019
The Lampert Foundation Award
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