BRAID study interim results

The UK-based BRAID study: what it means for women with dense breasts

The BRAID trial (Breast Screening: Risk Adapted Imaging for Density) is a large UK-based study that’s testing whether extra imaging can help detect more cancers in women with dense breasts, especially when mammograms come back as “normal.” The interim results, published in The Lancet in May 2025, are already giving us useful insights into how breast cancer screening could be made more effective.

Lead author of the study, Professor Fiona Gilbert says “Getting a cancer diagnosis early makes a huge difference for patients in terms of their treatment and outlook. We need to change our national screening programme so we can make sure more cancers are diagnosed early, giving many more women a much better chance of survival.”

What the Study Did

Between 2019 and 2024, the BRAID team recruited over 9,300 women aged 50 to 70 across 10 screening sites in the UK. All the women recently had a normal mammogram and were found to have dense breast tissue (either Category C or D density).

They were randomly assigned to one of four groups:

1. Abbreviated MRI – a fast version of the traditional MRI scan
2. Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) – a full-breast 3D ultrasound
3. Contrast-Enhanced Mammography (CEM) – a mammogram done with injected contrast dye
4. Standard care – no extra imaging beyond the mammogram

This early report looks at the first round of supplemental scans and compares how effective each one was at finding cancers.

Key Findings: How Many Cancers Were Found?

Here’s how many confirmed breast cancers were found per 1,000 women in each group:

• CEM: 19.2 cancers per 1,000
• Abbreviated MRI: 17.4 per 1,000
• ABUS: 4.2 per 1,000
• Standard mammography (for comparison): ~8.4 per 1,000

MRI and CEM both found twice as many cancers as mammography alone and about four times more than ABUS. Importantly, most of the cancers they found were invasive (i.e., the type most likely to spread), and they tended to be smaller and lymph node-negative, a good sign for catching cancer earlier.

What About Safety and False Alarms?

With any cancer screening, there’s a balance: you want to catch cancer early, but not overwhelm people with false alarms or unnecessary follow-ups.

Here’s what BRAID found:

• Recall rates (being called back for further tests) were highest with MRI and CEM: around 9.7%
• ABUS had a lower recall rate: 4.0%
• Standard care: 5.4%

In terms of side effects:

• MRI and CEM both use contrast dyes, and a small number of participants had mild to moderate reactions. One woman had a severe reaction with CEM.
• ABUS and standard mammography had no serious side effects.

The BRAID study is an important step toward smarter, more personalised breast cancer screening. It’s showing us that one-size-fits-all mammography may not be enough for every woman — and that with the right tools, we can do better. As more results come in from the BRAID study, we’ll have a clearer picture of the best supplementary screening tools for women with dense breasts.

 

References:
Gilbert, FJ et al. The Lancet, May 2025. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00582-3