Project Grant R01CA305931

Award Summary

Mayo Clinic received a $722,914 Project Grant from the National Cancer Institute under the Cancer Cause and Prevention Research program (CFDA 93.393) effective June 1, 2026, with a completion date of May 31, 2031. This award supports research to develop and validate radiomic phenotypes—quantitative imaging features extracted from three-dimensional digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) screening examinations—for improved prediction of invasive and advanced breast cancer risk. The project will extract and analyze over 2,000 radiomic features from approximately 36,000 screening-DBT exams across a representative sample of U.S. women ages 40-74, sourced from four breast screening cohorts, with particular attention to characterizing these phenotypes across racial and ethnic populations to address known disparities in breast density and cancer prognosis.

The research deliverables include characterization and independent validation of radiomic phenotypes derived from screening-DBT imaging, examination of associations between identified phenotypes and incident invasive and advanced breast cancer risk (defined as pathologic prognostic stage II or higher), and development of improved breast cancer risk prediction models that leverage superior tissue visualization capabilities of DBT technology compared to previous two-dimensional digital mammography approaches. By identifying reproducible intrinsic radiomic patterns that complement established risk factors such as mammographic breast density, this work aims to enhance the clinical utility of routine screening mammography—utilized by over 75% of U.S. women—for breast cancer risk stratification and early detection across diverse populations.