PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

RI Hospital study finds differences in mammography recall rate between 2 centers

Academic hospital had higher recall rate than community radiology practice

2013-07-24
(Press-News.org) PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A new study at Rhode Island Hospital has found that academic medical centers have higher rates of recall following mammography than community radiology centers. The recall rate is the frequency at which a radiologist interprets an examination as positive and the patient is instructed to return for more testing. The study is published online in advance of print in the journal Radiology.

"Recalling a patient for a mammogram has an impact on both the patient, and on the hospital," said lead researcher and author Ana Lourenco, M.D., a radiologist at Rhode Island Hospital. "Hearing that they need to return for another mammogram can cause a great deal of anxiety for patients. Additionally, the federal government uses recall rates as a quality indicator for the hospital or outpatient center in order to calculate Medicare payments."

The study found that the patient population at each of the sites contributed significantly to the rates of recall, which were 8.6 percent and 6.9 percent for the hospital and community practice, respectively. The patients who received their mammogram at the hospital were typically younger – average age 56 at the hospital and 63 at the community practice – and younger patients have a higher rate of recall. The hospital patients also had a higher incidence of previous surgeries and biopsies, which can complicate the interpretation of the images.

The study followed five radiologists who worked at both sites, and compared the rates of recall for each site. The only major systemic difference between the two sites is the occasional presence of a medical resident/trainee at the hospital site.

"The difference in recall rates does not indicate the quality of the centers," Lourenco said. "Demographics such as age and prior procedures play a very large role in the rate of recall, and it's important that patients know that a recall is not suggestive of a definitive diagnosis. While radiologists aim to keep recall rates down, they also must put the patient's health first. If that means conducting a second mammogram to be confident about the results, then they will call the patient back in."

Lourenco cautions that recall rates are typically affected by factors out of the radiologist's control, and therefore cannot determine the quality of a radiologist or an institution.

###

There was no funding for this study. Lourenco's principal affiliation is Rhode Island Hospital, a member hospital of the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island. She also has an academic appointment at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Other researchers involved in the study are Martha Mainiero, MD, of Rhode Island Hospital and the Alpert Medical School; and former Alpert Medical School medical student Jason Rothschild, M.D.

About Rhode Island Hospital

Founded in 1863, Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, R.I., is a private, not-for-profit hospital and is the principal teaching hospital of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. A major trauma center for southeastern New England, the hospital is dedicated to being on the cutting edge of medicine and research. Last year, Rhode Island Hospital received more than $55 million in external research funding. It is also home to Hasbro Children's Hospital, the state's only facility dedicated to pediatric care. For more information on Rhode Island Hospital, visit http://www.rhodeislandhospital.org, follow us on Twitter @RIHospital or like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/rhodeislandhospitalpage.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New research findings highlight benefits of human-animal interaction

2013-07-23
Chicago, US (July 22, 2013) --- Positive results from three new studies on human-animal interaction (HAI) are being presented today at the triennial conference of the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO) in Chicago, IL. The studies, supported by funding from Mars and the WALTHAM® Centre for Pet Nutrition (WALTHAM®), examined how pets impact our physical and emotional well-being and our social relationships and community connectedness. WALTHAM® is the state-of-the-art petcare science centre for Mars Petcare and provides the science ...

Hunting pushing central African forests toward ecological collapse

2013-07-23
Scientists from the Universities of Stirling, Oxford, Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society warn that current hunting trends in Central African forests could result in complete ecological collapse. The authors maintain that the current rate of unsustainable hunting of forest elephants, gorillas and other seed-dispersing species threatens the ability of forest ecosystems to regenerate, and that landscape-wide hunting management plans are needed to avoid an environmental catastrophe. The study appears in the latest version of Philosophical Transactions of ...

University of Hawaii Cancer Center researchers report

2013-07-23
HONOLULU, HI – University of Hawaii Cancer Center Prevention and Control Program researchers Pallav Pokhrel, PhD and Thaddeus Herzog, PhD have found that smokers who use e-cigarettes as a tool to stop smoking tend to be younger and more motivated to quit smoking as compared to other smokers. Their study published online ahead of the print version in the American Journal of Public Health, found that approximately 13 percent of smokers had tried e-cigarettes as a means of quitting smoking. They also found that smokers who had tried e-cigarettes for smoking cessation help ...

Putting the brakes on inflammation

2013-07-23
A team led by a University of Arizona researcher has discovered a previously unknown mechanism that prevents the immune system from going into overdrive, shedding light not only on how our body controls its response to pathogens but on conditions such as autoimmune diseases, allergies and chronic inflammation as well. The group found a protein previously believed to only play a role in blood clotting acts as a negative feedback signal, telling defense cells to calm down, thereby preventing an immune reaction from spiraling out of control. The results, which could lead ...

Rapid upper ocean warming linked to declining aerosols

2013-07-23
Australian scientists have identified causes of a rapid warming in the upper subtropical oceans of the Southern Hemisphere. They partly attribute the observed warming, and preceding cooling trends to ocean circulation changes induced by global greenhouse gas emissions and aerosols predominantly generated in the Northern Hemisphere from human activity. The research, by scientists from CSIRO and the University of NSW, was published today in Scientific Reports. Mr Tim Cowan, lead author of the study, says his group was initially interested in the three decade long cooling ...

Tropical ecosystems regulate variations in Earth's carbon dioxide levels

2013-07-23
Rising temperatures, influenced by natural events such as El Niño, have a corresponding increase in the release of carbon dioxide from tropical forest ecosystems, according to a new study out today. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that a temperature anomaly of just 1ºC (in near surface air temperatures in the tropics) leads to a 3.5-Petagram (billion tonnes of carbon) anomaly in the annual CO2 growth rate, on average. This is the equivalent of 1/3 of the annual global emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels ...

'Dead' gene comes to life, puts chill on inflammation, Stanford researchers find

2013-07-23
STANFORD, Calif. — A gene long presumed dead comes to life under the full moon of inflammation, Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have found. The discovery, described in a study to be published July 23 in eLife, may help explain how anti-inflammatory steroid drugs work. It also could someday lead to entirely new classes of anti-inflammatory treatments without some of steroids' damaging side effects. Chronic inflammation plays a role in cancer and in autoimmune, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, among others. Anti-inflammatory steroid drugs ...

Digital PCR technology detects brain-tumor-associated mutation in cerebrospinal fluid

2013-07-23
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers and their colleagues have used digital versions of a standard molecular biology tool to detect a common tumor-associated mutation in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with brain tumors. In their report being published in the open-access journal Molecular Therapy – Nucleic Acids, the investigators describe using advanced forms of the gene-amplification technology polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to analyze bits of RNA carried in membrane-covered sacs called extracellular vesicles for the presence of a tumor-associated ...

Harvesting electricity from the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide

2013-07-23
A new method for producing electricity from carbon dioxide could be the start of a classic trash-to-treasure story for the troublesome greenhouse gas, scientists are reporting. Described in an article in ACS' newly launched journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, the method uses CO2 from electric power plant and other smokestacks as the raw material for making electricity. Bert Hamelers, Ph.D., and colleagues explain that electric power-generating stations worldwide release about 12 billion tons of CO2 annually from combustion of coal, oil and natural gas. ...

Significant other's excessive fears can compromise patient's recovery from SAH

2013-07-23
Charlottesville, VA (July 23, 2013). Researchers from Durham University and Kings College London (United Kingdom) and the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany) found that patients who have suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) may not recover psychosocially as well as expected if their significant other is excessively fearful about the possibility of SAH recurrence. The researchers' findings are discussed in "Family and friends' fears of recurrence: impact on the patient's recovery after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Clinical article," by Judith Covey, Ph.D., Adam J. ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

Mission accomplished for the “T2T” Hong Kong Bauhinia Genome Project

[Press-News.org] RI Hospital study finds differences in mammography recall rate between 2 centers
Academic hospital had higher recall rate than community radiology practice