(Press-News.org) OAK BROOK, Ill. – Population-based screening with full-field digital mammography (FFDM) is associated with lower recall and biopsy rates than screen film mammography (SFM), suggesting that FFDM may reduce the number of diagnostic workups and biopsies that do not lead to diagnosis of breast cancer, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.
Previous population-based studies comparing the accuracy of SFM versus FFDM have reported conflicting results, and reported recall rates—or the rate at which women are called back for additional tests—have varied widely. In addition, past performance evaluations of breast imaging screening technologies do not account for the transition phase of adoption.
For this study, data collected from the Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) was used to compare performance measures and outcomes before, during and after the transition from SFM to FFDM.
"The program invites women age 50 to 69 years to mammographic screening every two years," said Solveig Hofvind, Ph.D., from the Cancer Registry of Norway and Oslo University College, in Oslo, Norway. "We analyzed performance measures in the program as run in a usual setting."
To examine the effect of transition from SFM to FFDM, researchers analyzed the rate of cases, the recall rate, the rate of screen-detected cancer, and the rate of interval cancers.
"The study includes results from women screened with SFM only, with both SFM and FFDM, and with FFDM only. These combinations make us able to compare early performance measures achieved when using digital mammography in a routine setting, in a proper way," Dr. Hofvind said.
A total of 1,837,360 NBCSP screening exams were performed from 1996 through 2010, with 58.8 years being the average age at the time of screening. The overall recall rate was 3.4 percent for SFM and 2.9 percent for FFDM. The biopsy rate was 1.4 percent for SFM and 1.1 percent for FFDM.
Both the rate of invasive screening-detected and interval breast cancer remained stable during the transition from SFM to FFDM and after FFDM was firmly established. The positive predictive value of recalled examinations and of biopsy procedures increased from 19.3 percent and 48.3 percent to 22.7 percent and 57.5 percent, respectively, after adoption of FFDM.
By studying the transition phase of screening modality, researchers discovered FFDM implementation led to lower rates of false positive screening exams and fewer biopsies with benign outcome.
INFORMATION:
"Mammographic Performance in a Population-based Screening Program: Before, during, and after the Transition from Screen-Film to Full-Field Digital Mammography." Collaborating with Dr. Hofvind were
Per Skaane, M.D., Ph.D., Joann G. Elmore, M.D., Ph.D., Sofie Sebuødegård, B.Sc., Solveig Roth Hoff, M.D., Ph.D., and Christoph I. Lee, M.D., MSHS.
Radiology is edited by Herbert Y. Kressel, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc.
RSNA is an association of more than 53,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)
For patient-friendly information on mammography, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
Digital mammography reduces recall and biopsy rates
2014-04-01
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
For most adolescents, popularity increases the risk of getting bullied
2014-04-01
WASHINGTON, DC, March 26, 2014 — A new study suggests that for most adolescents, becoming more popular both increases their risk of getting bullied and worsens the negative consequences of being victimized.
"Most people probably would not think that having a higher social status would increase the risk of being targeted, but with few exceptions, that's what we find," said the study's lead author Robert Faris, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California-Davis. "It's kind of a hidden pattern of victimization that is rooted in the competition for ...
Bullying happens to popular teens too
2014-04-01
A new University of California, Davis, study suggests that for most adolescents, becoming more popular both increases their risk of getting bullied and worsens the negative consequences of being victimized, perhaps because they feel they have "farther to fall."
"In contrast to stereotypes of wallflowers as the sole targets of peer aggression, adolescents who are relatively popular are also at high risk of harassment, the invisible victims of school-based aggression," said Robert Faris, associate professor of sociology at UC Davis and co-author of the study. Females and ...
Quality improvement initiative leads to reduction in unnecessary follow-up imaging
2014-04-01
The April issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR®) focuses on a variety of issues relating to clinical practice, practice management, health services and policy, and radiology education and training.
Articles include:
A Quality Improvement Initiative to Reduce Unnecessary Follow-up Imaging for Adnexal Lesions
Jamie S. Hui, M.D.; Dawna J. Kramer, M.D.; C. Craig Blackmore, M.D., M.P.H.; Beverly E. Hashimoto, M.D.; David L. Coy, M.D., Ph.D.
Through a quality initiative aimed at improving sonographic characterization and imaging triage ...
Bullying targets popular kids, not only those who are marginalized
2014-04-01
Bullying affects more than just isolated and marginalized students, according to sociologists. In fact, researchers have found that relatively popular students are targeted and may actually suffer more from a single act of social aggression.
"We did find that students who are isolated do get bullied," said Diane Felmlee, professor of sociology, Penn State. "However, for most students, the likelihood of being targeted by aggressive acts increases as a student becomes more popular, with the exception of those at the very top."
In a study of students and their friendship ...
Study looks at why vitamin D deficiency diagnoses surged
2014-04-01
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – April 1, 2014 – New research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center suggests that physicians are ordering vitamin D deficiency screening tests for preventive care purposes rather than after patients develop conditions caused by decreased bone density.
For older patients, having a low vitamin D level is a condition that can cause weakening of bones, which can lead to fractures, and in children the deficiency can lead to rickets. The 2011 Institute of Medicine guidelines for vitamin D and calcium emphasize their importance in skeletal health and increased ...
Heat waves reduce length of pregnancy
2014-04-01
When temperatures reach 32°C or higher over a period of four to seven days, the risk of early-term delivery is 27% higher than on typical summer days, according to a study led by Nathalie Auger of the University of Montreal's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. The study involved data from 300,000 births that took place in Montreal between 1981 to 2010 with summer temperatures recorded by Environment Canada during this period. Auger is also affiliated with the university's CHUM Superhospital Research Centre.
The research team sought to identify, from June through ...
NSIDC, NASA say Arctic melt season lengthening, ocean rapidly warming
2014-04-01
The length of the melt season for Arctic sea ice is growing by several days each decade, and an earlier start to the melt season is allowing the Arctic Ocean to absorb enough additional solar radiation in some places to melt as much as four feet of the Arctic ice cap's thickness, according to a new study by National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and NASA researchers.
Arctic sea ice has been in sharp decline during the last four decades. The sea ice cover is shrinking and thinning, making scientists think an ice-free Arctic Ocean during the summer might be reached this ...
Aspirin use appears linked with improved survival after colon cancer diagnosis
2014-03-31
Bottom Line: Taking low doses of aspirin (which inhibits platelet function) after a colon cancer diagnosis appears to be associated with better survival if the tumor cells express HLA class I antigen.
Author: Marlies S. Reimers, M.D., Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands, and colleagues.
Background: Prior research has suggested aspirin use after a colorectal cancer diagnosis might improve survival. Although the precise mechanism of aspirin's anti-cancer effect is unknown, previous data suggest that aspirin may prevent distant metastasis in colorectal ...
β-Amyloid deposits increase with age, associated with artery stiffness
2014-03-31
Bottom Line: Stiffening of the arteries appears to be associated with the progressive buildup of β-amyloid (Αβ) plaque in the brains of elderly patients without dementia, suggesting a relationship between the severity of vascular disease and the plaque that is a hallmark of Alzheimer disease.
Author: Timothy M. Hughes, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C., and colleagues.
Background: Evidence suggested arterial stiffness is related to brain aging, cerebrovascular disease, impaired cognitive function and dementia in the elderly. ...
Antihypertensive ACEIs associated with reduced cardiovascular events, death
2014-03-31
Bottom Line: The blood pressure medication angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) appear to reduce major cardiovascular events and death, as well death from all other causes, in patients with diabetes, while angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) appear to have no such effect on those outcomes.
Author: Jun Cheng, M.D., of the Medical School of Zhejiang University, China, and colleagues.
Background: Approximately 285 million adults worldwide have diabetes, and diabetes is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CV). The American Diabetes Association recommends ...