Mammography Study in BMJ Flawed: Discredited Data Used

Newswise — Discredited and obsolete data used in Raftery and Chorozoglou, published Dec. 8 in the British Medical Journal, underestimated lives saved by mammography screening by half. The authors' comparison of inconvenience and anxiety of false positives to breast cancer deaths is also questionable.

“The estimated 15 percent reduction in breast cancer deaths used in this study is the same used in 2009 by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force. That estimate has been discredited by a series of large randomized control trials and other data that prove the benefit is at least twice that,” said Barbara Monsees, MD, chair of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Commission. “While anxiety over test results is real, most women simply need another mammogram or ultrasound exam to answer questions about their mammogram. A small number will undergo a benign breast biopsy based on an abnormal screening and subsequent evaluation. However, most women would balk at comparing the anxiety of this with that of dying from breast cancer.”

Recently, Tabar et al, a landmark study, published in Radiology, that involved 130,000 women followed over 29 years, re-confirmed that regular mammography screening reduced the breast cancer death rate by 30 percent.

source: Newswise

Breast cancer patients face increasing number of imaging visits before surgery

SAN ANTONIO, TX -- Breast cancer patients frequently undergo imaging like mammograms or ultrasounds between their first breast cancer-related doctor visit and surgery to remove the tumor. Evaluations of these scans help physicians understand a person's disease and determine the best course of action. In recent years, however, imaging has increased in dramatic and significant ways, say researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center. More patients have repeat visits for imaging than they did 20 years ago, and single imaging appointments increasingly include multiple types of imaging.

The researchers, led by Richard Bleicher, M.D., surgical oncologist at Fox Chase, found that between 1992 and 2005, the percentage of patients who had multiple (2+) imaging visits nearly quadrupled. Bleicher says additional visits present a burden to patients, many of whom are elderly, but the stress may be alleviated through better coordination and evaluation by physicians. Bleicher will present his group's findings on Friday, December 9 at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

"The burden to the patient is increasing substantially," Bleicher says. "The number of days patients are having mammograms, MRIs, and ultrasounds is going up steadily year by year. They're having imaging done more frequently on separate dates during the preoperative interval than ever before. It's surprising."


source: EurekAlert

Breast-Mammogram Detector Mismatch Results in Excess Radiation

By: PATRICE WENDLING, Family Practice News Digital Network

CHICAGO – A mismatch between breast size and detector size during mammography resulted in significantly higher doses of radiation for women with large breasts in a study of 886 patients.

On average, women with large breasts screened on a small detector received almost 5 milligray (mGy) of radiation, which exceeds the American College of Radiology guidelines of 3-4 mGy or less for a standard two-view mammogram.

Women with large breasts screened on a small detector received an average of almost 5 mGy of radiation, which exceeds guidelines of 3-4 mGy or less for a standard two-view mammogram.

When a mismatch occurs, women with large breasts receive significantly higher doses of radiation than women with small breasts or their counterparts with large breasts correctly matched to a large detector, Dr. Cathy Wells said when presenting the award-winning study at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

"Women with large breasts should be imaged with a large detector to avoid an unnecessary increase in radiation dose," she urged.

source: Family Practice News

New trials show land mine technology can give women fast, accurate breast cancer screening

Developed by Micrima, a spin-out from Bristol University, the revolutionary new screening technology – developed from a land mine detection project - now takes just eight seconds to provide a three-dimensional breast scan that provides results that are comparable with X-ray mammograms.

However, the MARIA (Multistatic Array processing for Radiowave Image Acquisition) system is not only safer and cheaper than current breast screening methods, it should also provide more reliable results in younger women who are overlooked for screening at present, with the additional benefit of being more comfortable for women undergoing the test.

The team behind Micrima is now raising new funding to help them achieve their goal of commercialising the targeted product – making breast cancer scans as normal as a dental or eye check-up.

Roy Johnson, Executive Chairman of Micrima, said "The new 3D breast screening platform under development aims to be safer, more convenient and more economically viable in a greater number of countries, in addition to providing a practical solution to screening women below the age of 50."

source: Medxpress.com

New Study Supports Mammography Screening at 40

CHICAGO, Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Women in their 40s with no family history of breast cancer are just as likely to develop invasive breast cancer as are women with a family history of the disease, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). These findings indicate that women in this age group would benefit from annual screening mammography.

The breast cancer screening guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in November 2009 sparked a controversy among physicians, patient advocacy groups and the media. Much of the debate centered on the recommendation against routine annual mammography screening for women in their 40s.

"We believe this study demonstrates the importance of mammography screening for women in this age group, which is in opposition to the recommendations issued by the task force," said Stamatia V. Destounis, M.D., radiologist and managing partner of Elizabeth Wende Breast Care, LLC, in Rochester, N.Y.

For the study, Dr. Destounis and colleagues performed a retrospective review to identify the number and type of cancers diagnosed among women between the ages of 40 and 49—with and without a family history of breast cancer—who underwent screening mammography at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care from 2000 to 2010. The researchers then compared the number of cancers, incidence of invasive disease and lymph node metastases between the two groups.

source: PR NEWSWIRE

BSGI/MBI Proven to Be Equivalent to MRI in the Detection of Breast Cancer

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Nov. 30, 2011 /CHICAGOPRESSRELEASE.COM/ — Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI), also known as Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI), has been found to be equivalent to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as an adjunct imaging modality in the diagnosis of breast cancer. BSGI/MBI may be especially useful for the evaluation of high-risk women or those with dense breasts. These findings will be presented in an abstract at the 2011 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting to be held in Chicago, Nov. 27 through Dec. 2, 2011.

According to the study authors, MRI has become increasingly popular as an adjunct to mammography in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Despite its sensitivity in lesion detection, MRI is expensive and can cause patient discomfort. BSGI/MBI has similar sensitivity to MRI, costs less and is comfortable for the patient. This study aimed to directly compare the two modalities.

It was concluded that BSGI/MBI results led to further workup and detection of occult malignancies. In fact, negative MRIs without contradictory BSGI/MBI results would have led to six missed malignant tumors in this study. Also, the authors noted that as the study demonstrated BSGI/MBI’s equivalency to MRI in the diagnosis of breast cancer, that BSGI/MBI may be useful for the evaluation of high-risk women or those with dense breasts. For this study BSGI/MBI was conducted with a high-resolution gamma camera, the Dilon 6800®.

source: News.Gnom.es