CCS-funded practice-changers

Thanks to continued donor support, CCS has a history of funding research that has changed standard practice. Here are 3 examples of CCS-funded practice-changing research from the past 25 years.

Some breast cancers are hard to detect with a mammogram alone, especially in people with BRCA gene mutations who areat higher risk. In the past, many of these individuals were advised to consider preventive mastectomy – surgery to remove healthy breast tissue – because earlier screening tools weren’t reliable enough. Dr Ellen Warner studied whether adding MRI scans to regular screening could help. She found that combining mammograms with MRI can detect almost all early-stage breast cancers in people with BRCA mutations. This gives people at higher risk of breast cancer a safe, effective option that can reduce the need for preventive mastectomies.

Today, thanks to this important research, MRI is part of the standard screening protocol in some regions for people with a high risk of breast cancer.

Not all prostate cancers need to be treated right away. Some types grow very slowly and may never cause serious problems. But in the past, even people with low-risk prostate cancer often received immediate treatment, like surgery or radiation, which can cause serious side effects. Dr Laurence Klotz and his team studied whether people with low-risk prostate cancer could safely choose active surveillance (regular checkups with no treatment unless the cancer grows) instead.

Their results were impressive: 10- and 15-year survival rates of 98% and 94%. This shows that active surveillance is a safe alternative to immediate treatment for low-risk prostate cancer – an approach that is now the global standard of care, improving lives all around the world.