Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Could screening mammography also be used to find asymptomatic women who might be at risk of cardiovascular disease? A study from Italy that hints at such a combo test was our top story for the week.
Researchers examined screening mammograms for breast arterial calcifications, which are easily recognizable on breast images and have been associated with cardiovascular disease. They found that women with such calcifications had over three times the risk of coronary heart disease as women who didn't.
While you're in our Women's Imaging Community, be sure to check out a story on how a combination of breast elastography methods reduced unnecessary breast biopsies. Also, we published two articles on digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) this week: one in which DBT showed its ability to detect cancers in dense breast tissue, and another that chronicled the attitudes radiologists have toward DBT.
You'll find these stories and more in our Women's Imaging Community.
CT for kidney stones
In another widely read article this past week, researchers from Washington expressed concern about rising use of CT for tracking individuals with kidney stone disease.
A research group tracked the number of imaging scans received by individuals who were suspected of having kidney stones and compared them to a control group of people without active stone disease. They found that those suspected of having stone disease had from nine to 12 times the number of CT scans as the control group -- and these individuals were also exposed to more radiation.
In other CT news, another Washington group found that quantitative analysis of CT data could be used to detect lung damage caused by exposure to air pollution. And researchers from South Carolina used artificial intelligence to analyze quantitative coronary CT angiography exams to predict future adverse cardiac events.
Get all the news that's going on in CT in our CT Community.
Minnies nominations end Sunday
Finally, you've got just over 24 hours to submit your nominations for the Minnies, the premier awards event in radiology. We stop accepting nominations at midnight Pacific time on Sunday August 18, so please head over to minnies.auntminnie.com to let us know which radiology researchers, educators, products, and programs should be among the candidates!
