“Breast Cancer Screening Using Tomosynthesis in Combination with Digital Mammography” was recently published in JAMA Oncology. In this study SBI Fellow Dr. Emily Conant and her colleagues found that the benefits of digital breast tomosynthesis (lower recall rates and increased cancer detection rates) are sustainable beyond the first screening. Equally, and perhaps more important, there were fewer interval cancers with tomosynthesis screening compared to standard digital mammography screening. 

SBI Member Dr. Rebecca A. Zuurbier, associate professor of radiology at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and director of breast imaging at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, explains why beginning annual mammograms at age 40 will save the most lives.  

SBI Member, Lisa Schneider, MD, of the Piper Breast Center at West Health in Minneapolis, Minnesota, spoke to community members about the importance of annual breast cancer screenings. The meeting was featured in a news story by 12 News in Minneapolis. Dr. Schneider told the group, "the benefit of screening mammography is that it can detect cancers before a woman can feel them, before it has a chance to spread potentially." 

SBI Member Debbie Bennett, MD, Director of Breast Imaging at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine clears up the confusion about the USPSTF recommendations and the ACS guidelines in an interview with KPLR St. Louis. 

"The bottom line is this: Women should be emboldened to make an informed decision that works best for them. The facts are the facts: Getting screened every year at 40 will save the most lives. If the potential for anxiety and overtreatment outweighs your concern of a breast cancer diagnosis, then waiting until 45 or 50 may be the best option for you. But it’s important that women are aware that they’re trading the chance to find out that they have cancer at an early stage when it can be most effectively treated, for relief from anxiety and the theoretical potential of overtreatment," wrote Phoebe Freer, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, in an op-ed published in Fortune Magazine.