Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Breast MRI is a good screening option for high-risk women in underserved communities, according to a new article from this week's American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Washington, DC.
Researchers from Duke University compared breast MRI screening of high-risk women in an underserved community to screening general-risk women with conventional x-ray-based mammography. Many underserved women lack access to breast MRI due to the high cost of the modality.
The researchers found that the women who received breast MRI had a higher rate of compliance with follow-up recommendations than those who got conventional screening. Costs per patient were also lower, although the breast MRI scans were subsidized by a grant.
Does the study mean that breast MRI is ready for a bigger role? Read more by clicking here, or visit our MRI Digital Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
Also check out other articles from the AACR conference, including a story on how mammography screening compliance rates for immigrant women in the U.S. have improved over the years, and how rates of secondary breast cancer in the contralateral breast may be higher in black women compared to white women.
Healthcare IT can help with radiation dose
In other news, healthcare IT can help radiology facilities deal with growing concern over radiation dose, according to a report in our Healthcare IT Digital Community from this week's New York Medical Imaging Informatics Symposium.
Associate editor Cynthia E. Keen was on hand yesterday to hear Dr. James H. Thrall from Massachusetts General Hospital discuss how the hospital implemented a computerized physician order-entry system that not only helps manage appropriate utilization, it also helps track the appropriate use of protocols.
Learn how they did it by clicking here, or visit the community at healthcareit.auntminnie.com.
