Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Yesterday marked the start of a new year, but we would be remiss if we didn't bring you up to date on a couple of big stories that broke at the end of 2013.
First off was an article published December 30 in JAMA Internal Medicine from Dr. Gilbert Welch, who first piqued the ire of mammography proponents with a 2012 study that questioned the effectiveness of mammography and charged that overdiagnosis was rampant in breast screening.
Dr. Welch's new article seeks to quantify the benefits versus harms of mammography to help women make an informed decision about whether to seek breast screening. Using data from past mammography trials, Dr. Welch has generated tables that quantify mammography's reduction in mortality and compare it with the number of false alarms and overdiagnosed women from screening.
But it's an op-ed piece in the New York Times on December 29 that really sparked criticism. In the article, Dr. Welch characterizes finding a breast lump as a form of early diagnosis, and he proposes randomized clinical trials in which women could choose which trial arm to participate in -- not exactly random.
Learn more about the new article by clicking here, or visit our Women's Imaging Digital Community at women.auntminnie.com.
USPSTF makes CT screening nod official
In other news, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) earlier this week gave its final approval to low-dose CT lung cancer screening.
The final decision hews closely to the group's groundbreaking announcement in July, stating that CT screening met its criteria as a medical test that's worth performing for high-risk individuals with long smoking histories.
Making its decision final, while hardly a surprise, sets in motion the bureaucratic wheels to make CT lung cancer screening a covered service under the Affordable Care Act -- meaning more individuals could start showing up at imaging facilities wanting to get CT scans.
Read more by clicking here, or visit our CT Digital Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
