Dear AuntMinnie Member,
A new study published March 19 in JAMA Internal Medicine found that fewer women older than 75 received breast cancer screening after they were enrolled in accountable care organizations (ACOs).
Breast screening rates for these women fell 2.1% after they entered the ACO, compared with a similar group of women who were not covered by an ACO. And for all women of all ages, breast screening rates within ACOs fell 1.8%.
Most breast imaging experts might see the findings as bad news, but the study's authors believe the results show that ACOs are working to drive down what they feel is the "inappropriate" use of screening technologies. Screening of women older than 75 is not supported by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, they pointed out. The study found similar declines in other types of "questionable" screening exams, such as prostate-specific antigen testing.
Breast imaging experts have risen to contest the findings, pointing out that numerous observational studies have shown that breast screening of older women saves lives, and that it makes sense given the trend toward increasing life expectancy of older Americans. They advise that women older than 75 continue to discuss the benefits and risks of breast screening with their physicians.
Get the rest of the story by clicking here, or visit our Women's Imaging Community at women.auntminnie.com.
News from SIR 2018
We're pleased to be bringing you news from the 2018 edition of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) annual meeting, currently underway in Los Angeles.
In a Tuesday talk, researchers from Stanford University discussed how they used 3D-printed models of groin vasculature to help train students to perform femoral artery access interventional procedures. They found that students who were trained on the models did just as well as those trained with a commercially available model, but at a cheaper price. Click here for more.
In other SIR 2018 news, another group from Stanford discussed its results in using a holographic augmented reality platform to assess splenic artery aneurysms. The platform takes data from CT and MRI scans and reconstructs them into 3D volumes that appear to be projected into space on a specialized display. Users can view and interrogate the models: Find out how it works by clicking here.
Radiology's rebound in the Match
Radiology has bounced back as a specialty that medical students want to get into, according to our reading of the latest numbers from the Match 2018, when senior medical students around the U.S. found out what residency programs they got into.
Radiology residency programs reported in as 100% filled on Friday's Match day -- a sharp turnaround from just a few years ago, when some radiology programs weren't able to fill all their positions.
The news indicates that the doom-and-gloom scenarios about future job prospects for radiologists are not deterring medical students from picking radiology as the specialty they want to spend the rest of their professional lives in. Read more by clicking here, or visit our Imaging Leaders Community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
