Should we be concerned about mammography utilization in the Medicare population?

The May issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR) examines current trends in mammography utilization in the Medicare population - specifically, how digital mammography may be affecting the rate of women being screened for breast cancer, as well as validating data from recent reports that a decline in the overall screening rate for women over age 40 exists.

Recent Trends in Mammography Utilization in the Medicare Population: Is There a Cause for Concern? is authored by Vijay M. Rao, M.D., David C. Levin, M.D., Laurence Parker, Ph.D., and Andrea J. Frangos, M.S., and uses data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - which supplies insight into utilization, types of examinations, and providers of services - rather than only survey data, which does not distinguish a difference between screening and diagnostic mammography, from which to draw conclusions.

source: Medicexchange, UK

St John's Hospital Receives First MAMMOMAT Inspiration In The UK

St John's Hospital in Livingston, part of NHS Lothian's University Hospitals Division, has installed the first Siemens new generation full-field digital mammography system in the UK.

Part of the 9 system order via the Scottish Procurement Framework, the MAMMOMAT Inspiration was recently designed with the input of healthcare professionals to create an easy-to-operate and patient-friendly system. Offering quick exposure and display times, the MAMMOMAT Inspiration speeds up patient throughput and provides detailed digital images for diagnosis.

The St John's Hospital installation has replaced an old analogue system, meaning that examination times are now shorter and deliver improved departmental efficiency. The introduction of a digital system has also eliminated the need for processing chemistry and traditional X-ray film.

source: MedicalNewsToday

Mammograms Benefit Women Into Their 70s

New research from The Netherlands suggests that mammograms benefit women up to the age of 75 by cutting deaths; the researchers claim this is the first study to show this because until the late 1990s, few women over 70 were undergoing mammogram screening.

The study is the work of Jacques Fracheboud, a senior researcher at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, and colleagues, who presented their findings at the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6) in Berlin, on Friday 18th of April.

In many countries, breast screening programmes stop at the age of 70. However, in 1998 The Netherlands extended the cut off age to 75.

source: MedicalNewsToday

Use Of Screening Breast MRIs Endorsed For Some Women

The American Society of Breast Disease's Consensus Committee confirms that based on the most current data available, screening MRI is appropriate as an adjunct to mammography, clinical breast examination, and ultrasonography for breast cancer detection in women at high risk of breast cancer.

The Committee concurred with recently revised guidelines issued by the American Cancer Society that recommend annual MRI screening based on evidence to include: BRCA mutation, first-degree relatives of BRCA carriers who are untested, and women with a lifetime risk ~20-20% or greater as defined by BRCAPRO or other models that are largely dependent on family history.

source: MedicalNewsToday

MRI before surgery leads to better-adapted treatment for breast cancer

Berlin, Germany: The early use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in women diagnosed with breast cancer can often lead to a better adapted surgical approach to the tumour, a scientist told the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6) today (Wednesday April 16). Dr. David Martinez-Cecilia, a surgeon from the General Surgery Service, directed by Prof. Rufian-Peña, in the Hospital Universitario Reina Sofia, Cordoba, Spain, said that this technique should become standard in determining the stage of the tumour before any operation.

Dr. Martinez-Cecilia and his team studied 249 patients who were undergoing surgery for breast cancer, and carried out routine MRI as soon as a biopsy showed malignancy. If additional lesions were discovered, a further biopsy was carried out on them.

“Using MRI, we found 20 additional malignant lesions in 18 patients”, he said, “and that meant that for 15 patients we were able to change the surgical treatment to one which took care of all the tumours, as opposed to the single one that had originally been diagnosed.”

source: European CanCer Organization Press Release

MAMMOMAT Inspiration Designed To Optimise Breast Screening Procedures Via Smoother Workflow And Increased Patient Comfort

The first Full-Field Direct Digital Mammography system from Siemens has been unveiled. The MAMMOMAT Inspiration has been developed from the input and inspiration of healthcare professionals to combine speed, superior image quality and examination comfort.

The new system is fresh in design to meet the needs of the patient, the user and clinician. New compression technologies, paddle design and mood lighting offer the latest in patient comfort; the isocentric rotation of the X-ray tube and examination functionality have been enhanced to offer easy and fast workflow to improve patient throughput and image resolution of the whole breast is advanced for detailed diagnosis.

source: MedicalNewsToday

Report from ARRS: Telemammography over Internet proves feasible, cost-effective

By: H. A. Abella

Nearly 30,000 cases and three years of experience have confirmed that the transmission and interpretation of digital mammography exams to and from a remote location through commercially available high-speed cable Internet is feasible, safe, reliable, and cost-effective, according to a Columbia University study.

"There haven't been any glitches since we began, but we have made long-distance transmission better and faster," said principal investigator Dr. Alan R. Melton, an assistant professor of radiology at Columbia. "We are refining the system, establishing online dictation, increasing transmission speeds, increasing the efficiency of the routing, and diminishing downtime."

source: Diagnostic Imaging

New York Times Examines Radiologists' Transition To Digital Mammograms

An increasing number of women undergoing breast cancer screenings are being recalled for additional testing as radiologists are learning to interpret new digital mammograms after switching from traditional X-ray tests, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, 32% of mammography clinics have at least one digital machine, compared with 10% of mammography clinics two years ago.

Some radiologists have said that digital mammograms allow the magnifier contrast and magnification to potentially "see things that were blurry or maybe even invisible" in traditional X-rays, but they add that "it takes time to learn the ropes" of the new technology.

source: Medical News Today

A Diagnosis of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Doesn’t Always Mean Cancer Spread

Triple-negative breast cancers are a heterogeneous group and may not always be associated with lymph node spread, a new study shows.

The study of 145 triple negative breast cancers (i.e, cancer which is estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and HER2-negative) in 128 women found that about 23% were moderate or low-grade lesions, said Cecilia Mercado, MD, of New York University School of Medicine, and an author of the study.

Triple negative breast cancer is found in about 15% of breast cancer patients and the patients are usually younger.

The study found that 11 of the 145 cancers had a low histologic grade. Only one of these patients had evidence that their cancer had spread into their lymph nodes. Twenty-three cancers were moderate grade lesions; only five of these 23 had spread into the lymph nodes. That compares to 37 of 111 cancers with a high histologic grade which had lymph node metastases, Dr. Mercado said.

source: ARRS Press Release

MRI Changes Breast Cancer Treatment Choice; Increases Time To Treatment

More than a quarter of breast cancer patients who had an MRI examination before their initial surgical treatment had their treatment change, according to a study out of Yale University School of Medicine.

The study included 110 who had an MRI examination before treatment and 374 who did not undergo an MRI examination. "MRI prompted biopsy of 70 sites in 44 patients, said Carol Lee, MD, an author of the study, now at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NY. Sixteen additional sites of cancer were found in 13 (12%) women, she said.

Surgical treatment was changed in 31 (28%) cases, she added. Fifteen patients had mastectomy rather than lumpectomy. Six had more extensive lumpectomy and three had treatment for cancer that was detected in the opposite breast.

source:American Roentgen Ray Society

Elderly Benefit From Screening Mammography

Although guidelines keep changing regarding screening mammography in elderly patients, those older than 70 years old continue to benefit from this exam, showing that with frequent mammograms breast cancers can be found sooner, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Jacobi Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in Bronx, NY.

“Our initial interest was sparked by the changing mammographic guidelines in the elderly age group and the differences in the guidelines between organizations including the American Cancer Society and American College of Radiology,” said Jason Salsamendi, MD, lead author of the study. “We also noticed that we were performing a significant number of screening mammograms in elderly patients at our institution and became curious about the incidence of occult breast cancer in this age group,” he said.

source: RedOrbit

In Shift to Digital, More Repeat Mammograms

DENISE GRADY

It is a phone call that women dread. Something is not quite right on the mammogram: come back for another one. But don’t worry, the script goes, most repeat tests wind up normal.

Still, most women know someone who has breast cancer, and even the calmest, most rational minds may think the worst when summoned back to the clinic.

At many centers, these nerve-racking calls are on the rise, at least temporarily — the price of progress as more and more radiologists switch from traditional X-ray film to digital mammograms, in which the X-ray images are displayed on a computer monitor.

source article: Blue Ridge Now

Connect Imaging introduces software for Fuji digital mammography systems

Connect Imaging, Inc., a provider of tailor-made PACS (picture archiving and communication systems), has introduced new software for use with FCRm digital mammography systems from FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA.

According to Philip J. Manly, chief executive officer of Connect Imaging, the company developed its newest module, called VCM Port, to address an issue Connect Imaging identified while validating its PACS for use with Fuji’s computed radiography mammography systems installed at one of Connect’s clients.

“We are pleased to offer this software product to other users of Fuji’s mammography CR systems,” Manly said. “Connect Imaging excels at addressing the unique workflow issues associated with digital mammography, including those of integrating prior film-based studies. For Fuji, we created customized software for use with its Flash Plus IIPm console unit to ensure that all portions of a mammography study are hung correctly.”

source: ConnectImaging

Quest International Announces They Will be First in US to Exhibit True 12-Bit Grayscale Mammographic Images

IRVINE, Calif., April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest International, Inc. (Quest) announced they will show true 12-bit, grayscale mammographic images, utilizing an Apple Mac system, OsiriX and the Totoku, ME551i2, medical LCD display, at the upcoming Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM), to be held in Seattle, Washington.

Quest will be demonstrating the imaging breakthrough using the Apple Mac Pro 8-Core workstation with two ME551i2 medical, LCD displays. The ME551i2 is a 21.3-inch, 5 megapixel, DICOM-compliant diagnostic display. The ME551i2 is the only display able to interface with the new 64-bit version of OsiriX, the most advanced open-source PACS workstation DICOM viewer on the market.

source: PR Newswire

iCAD receives FDA Approval for its SecondLook Digital for use with Fuji’s Digital Mammography System

iCAD®, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICAD), an industry-leading provider of Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) solutions, today announced that iCAD’s SecondLook® Digital Computer-Aided Detection system for mammography received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale withFujifilm Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm) systems. SecondLook Digitalfor FCRm is the first CAD product approved and available in the U.S. for use with computer radiography (CR).

“The addition of CAD functionality to CR digital mammography takes screening and diagnostic capabilities to an unprecedented level,” said Rachel Brem, M.D., Director of Breast Imaging and Interventional Care at the George Washington University Hospital. “CAD improves upon existing mammography systems by providing an ability to find overlooked cancers, helping the radiologist find cancer earlier and ultimately improve the level of care for every patient.”

source: iCAD

Whole Breast Ultrasound Powered by Medipattern Shown as an Effective Method for Breast Screening in China

The Medipattern Corporation (TSX VENTURE:MKI), an award-winning developer of computer-aided detection (CAD) medical imaging software designed to aid physicians in making better informed biopsy decisions and to permit a higher standard of care for the millions of patients at risk of cancer, is pleased to announce that partner SonoCine Inc. ("SonoCine") successfully demonstrated automated whole breast ultrasound in breast screening applications in China. In direct comparison between a doctor performing breast scans via traditional 2D frozen frame imaging and automated whole breast ultrasound, the whole breast method found more pathology. Medipattern writes the software that powers the SonoCine viewer building 3D images of the breast and supplies its B-CADTM computer aided detection product to the SonoCine product line.

source: MarketWire

GE Healthcare to offer digital mammography reading workshops at Mediconex Conference in Cairo

GE Healthcare, the $17bn healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), is highlighting the importance of early screening in the diagnosis of breast cancer by offering digital mammography reading workshops for the first time in Egypt.

To be held at the Mediconex Updates on Breast Cancer and Women's Imaging Symposium to be held at the Cairo International Conference Centre on April 7 and 8, 2008.

This training initiative is in line with the global vision of GE Healthcare, which revolves around its 'Early Health' model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the world.

source: AME Info

Siemens to Market Carestream Health's Mammography Digitizer

MALVERN, Pa., April 2, 2008 – Siemens Healthcare (www.usa.siemens.com/healthcare) has announced the addition of a mammography digitizing system from Carestream Healthcare, Inc., (Rochester, N.Y.) to its Accessory Solutions product portfolio. The digitizer is offered through Siemens to U.S. healthcare providers.

Carestream Health’s specialized digitizer enables mammography facilities to transition to digital imaging by converting prior film-based diagnostic and screening mammograms into a digital imaging format so they can be viewed in conjunction with digital mammography exams on a diagnostic workstation.

“With this high-performance digitizer, our customers can help mammography providers enhance their productivity and achieve the benefits of an all-digital workflow enabled by our digital mammography systems,” said Anders Steiner, vice president, Special Systems, Siemens Healthcare. “Facilities will now be able to transition from their current processes, which require them to retrieve, display, and re-file prior film-based mammography exams.”

source: Siemens Medical

FUJIFILM Enjoys Consecutive Year of Record FCRm Sales

STAMFORD, Conn., April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- For the second year in a row, FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc. has achieved record sales of Fuji Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm), further demonstrating its leadership in the breast imaging arena. FUJIFILM's ability to reach a milestone of 500 accredited unit sales in the U.S. within 18 months of FDA approval solidifies its status as the dominant worldwide leader in FFDM installations.

Approved for sale in the U.S. by the FDA in 2006, FCRm presents mammography providers with various equipment configuration combinations, from a centrally located multi-plate reader serving several rooms, to a single plate reader installed right in the exam room.

source: Fuji Medical Systems