Diagnostic Imaging (11/27) reports, “Automated volume breast ultrasound (AVBS) is equal in diagnostic accuracy to hand-held (HH) ultrasound, whether performed by a sonographer or mammography technologist,” researchers found. The findings of the 90-patient study were presented at the RSNA 2016 meeting. 

Aunt Minnie (11/28) reports, “There’s no evidence that women 75 and older should discontinue regular mammography screening, according to a study presented at RSNA 2016.” Investigators “found that women between the ages of 75 and 90 continue to benefit from screening.” 

According to the Washington Post (11/17, Sun), “in a report published” yesterday, “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data for the five leading causes of death in 2014 in the United States, which together account for 63 percent of all deaths.” The report indicates that “fewer people are dying prematurely from three of the five leading causes of death between 2010 and 2014: cancer, stroke and heart disease.” However, “there was a significant increase in preventable deaths from unintentional injuries, mostly because deaths from opioid overdoses are increasing.”

MedPage Today (11/17, Bankhead) reports, “Younger patients with early breast cancer and those with low-risk ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) can qualify for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI), according to an updated consensus statement from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).” The updated guidance “identified patients ≥50 as ‘suitable’ for APBI, which received a ‘cautionary’ recommendation for women 40 to 49 who met all other elements of suitability.” The expert panel “that developed the statement found women younger than 40 unsuitable for APBI.” 

Newsweek (11/16, Clarke-Billings) reports, “Black women are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with advanced breast cancer as white women in England, according to Cancer Research UK and Public Health England.” About “25 percent of black African women and 22 percent of black Caribbean women diagnosed with breast cancer are picked up at stage three and four, compared to 13 percent of white British women.”