Dear Women's Imaging Insider,
Supplemental breast ultrasound screening used with mammography has come under focus in recent research. Whether it be MRI, ultrasound, or digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), researchers are showing that teamwork makes the dream work.
In a new study of over 19,000 women released this week, researchers found that ultrasound with mammography could help detect early-stage and invasive malignant lesions for asymptomatic women regardless of breast density. Read what researchers found in this edition's Insider Exclusive.
The study comes as two prominent breast imaging researchers -- Dr. Paula Gordon and Dr. Wendie Berg -- suggest in a new editorial that it is not time to stop screening breast ultrasound trials. Their comments came in response to a study published earlier this year suggesting ultrasound to be an inferior modality compared with other methods for adjunctive breast screening.
In related news, artificial intelligence analysis of DBT images can improve mammographic surveillance after breast-conserving therapy. Either method when used with mammography increased accuracy and decreased recall rates in a recent study.
Additionally, combining contrast-enhanced mammography with ultrasound can perform just as well as breast MRI for preoperative staging for breast cancer. Learn why researchers are touting this as an effective "one-stop-shop" imaging strategy.
Plus, check out the following women's imaging stories:
- Out-of-pocket costs for additional breast imaging after screening in the U.S. have nearly doubled since 2010. Read why researchers from the University of Washington are saying such increases undermine the goal of the Affordable Care Act.
- Prediction models based on clinical characteristics could help reduce false positives in women with dense breasts who undergo supplemental breast cancer screening with MRI. Find out how these models can help reduce burden on patients and healthcare systems.
- Researchers have created a web-based breast imaging curriculum supplement that they say can help improve global radiology education, especially for residents.
- A new SPECT tracer based on technetium-99m was found to be safe in patients and can detect metastatic breast cancer. The tracer even performed better than biopsies in a few cases.
Find more articles like these by regularly visiting your Women's Imaging Community!
