Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Although hard to believe, the debate over the benefits of vaccination against COVID-19 continues to swirl in the U.S. In a new study, researchers from South Korea used CT to demonstrate how vaccinated people who experience "breakthrough" infections still have milder disease than those who are unvaccinated.
The researchers found that vaccinated people with breakthrough infections had a higher proportion of CT scans without pneumonia, compared with those who were unvaccinated. Vaccination status also correlated with other clinical factors like the need for supplemental oxygen or admission to the intensive care unit.
February 4 was World Cancer Day, and a new U.S. report highlights the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had in the war on cancer. The report from the President's Cancer Panel chronicles a dramatic reduction in cancer screening tests since the pandemic started -- a decline that could translate into more advanced disease and deaths in the years to come.
Also be sure to check out an article on the accuracy of the Lung-RADS nomenclature for categorizing lung nodules found on CT lung cancer screening exams.
Get these stories and more in our CT Community.
Low-risk breast screening
Another debate that has been percolating concerns breast screening. Some believe that breast screening could be made more efficient by focusing on women who are at higher risk of cancer. But the question remains, what happens to women who don't fit that criteria?
A new study sheds some light on the question. Researchers from Australia found that in a population of some 323,000 women who were screened, 41% of breast cancers detected by screening were in women with no recorded risk factors.
Also, a study out of Italy adds to the growing body of evidence pointing to the utility of digital breast tomosynthesis for detecting breast cancer. And in our coverage from last week's Arab Health meeting, we report on a talk by Dr. Michael Fuchsjäger from Austria on cryoablation for small breast tumors.
You'll find all this news in our Women's Imaging Community.
AI for pneumothorax
Finally, don't get started on your weekend before reading a new article in our Digital X-Ray Community on how an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm helped radiologists detect pneumothorax on chest radiographs after needle biopsies of the lungs.
Also, read about a dynamic x-ray technique for measuring airflow in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and check out our coverage of a study that questions just how useful chest x-ray was for diagnosing COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic.
