Dear Women's Imaging Insider,
A confession: I'm a stereotypical female. When I'm anxious or unhappy, I turn to food for comfort. Stress-management pundits may advise exercise or aromatherapy to cope with life's trials and tribulations, but I would rather tuck into a box-mix yellow cake complete with premade chocolate frosting, thank you.
Women have a complex relationship with food. Part and parcel of that relationship is the pressure that many women feel to conform to whatever the current beauty standard is. So it's not surprising that the majority of patients with eating disorders are female, according to the National Eating Disorders Association, which estimates that 10 million women in the U.S. currently suffer from anorexia, bulimia, or binge/purge eating habits.
The jury is still out on what really brings on eating disorders, but imaging specialists in the field have taken it upon themselves to offer some answers. Our Insider Exclusive rounds up several neuroimaging studies that delve into how our brains react and respond to food, hunger, and appetite. In the female brain in particular, it's not just a matter of hungry versus not hungry. Click here to learn more.
In other women's imaging news, check out the following articles:
- How high-intensity focused ultrasound ablation can potentially boost immunity in breast cancer patients
- Why mammography results are often poorly communicated to African-American women
- The kinds of procedures that follow screening mammography and lead to a breast cancer diagnosis
- How SPECT/CT can improve sentinel node detection in overweight breast cancer patients
- Why computer-aided detection paired with full-field digital mammography beat double-reading in a Norwegian study
Last but not least, visit the Women's Imaging Digital Community during the week of March 12 when we'll bring you on-the-spot news from Breast Diseases: Detection, Intervention and Therapy (the Breast Course) in Key Largo, FL. Topics scheduled for discussion include imaging-guided interventions, brachytherapy, ultrasound, and of course, mammography.
