Blood test could reduce breast biopsies

A new blood test that checks for multiprotein biomarkers could help reduce the need for a biopsy after an abnormal mammogram by up to 67%, according to a study published May 23 in Clinical Breast Cancer.

The test is called Videssa Breast and is made by Provista Diagnostics. A team led by Dr. Ana Lourenco of Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University conducted two prospective trials that included 545 women with mammograms categorized as BI-RADS 3 or 4 (probably benign and suspicious for abnormality).

The researchers found that Videssa Breast had a cancer sensitivity of 87.5%, a specificity of 83.8%, a positive predictive value of 25.2%, and a negative predictive value of 99.1%.

The test is currently in limited clinical use through an early-access program, Provista Diagnostics said.

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