A study by MSK researchers published this month in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment and reported by AuntMinnie.com found that men at increased risk for breast cancer could benefit from screening mammograms.

The authors performed a retrospective review of 163 asymptomatic men at increased risk for breast cancer due to family history, personal history, or BRCA1/BRCA2 genetic mutations. After reviewing 806 screening mammograms done over nearly 7 years, the authors calculated a cancer detection rate of 4.9 per 1,000 mammograms, comparable to average-risk women. This indicates that screening mammography could be a useful tool in the high-risk male population, though the authors state that larger studies are needed to strengthen this conclusion. There are currently no guidelines on the use of screening mammography in men.