Aunt Minnie (3/31, Yee) reports, “Overdiagnosis has emerged as a major flash point in the debate over breast screening.” Nevertheless, “breast imagers can defuse the overdiagnosis argument with five steps that use the power of advanced imaging to make screening more precise and less invasive,” research published online March 23 in Academic Radiology suggests. In the study, researchers “offered ideas that range from adjusting biopsy protocols and exploring new screening technologies to tapping into the power of radiomics, or assessing quantitative features in images.” Other ideas “include using imaging biomarkers to track malignancy and tailoring treatment to individual patients.” 

Aunt Minnie (3/30, Yee) reports that magnetic resonance “is an effective breast cancer screening tool for women with a higher lifetime risk of the disease.” Availability of MR, however, “can be limited, and sociodemographic factors may play more of a role in access than women’s breast cancer risk factors,” the findings of a study published online March 22 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology suggest. Investigators discovered that “sociodemographic factors such as race were related to excess travel time to obtain breast screening MR exams, while breast cancer risk factors were not.” 

The Wall Street Journal (3/24, Winslow, Subscription Publication) reports that research published in the JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging suggests mammography could possibly be used to spot heart risks in female patients.

 

Diagnostic Imaging (3/22) reports that research suggests “early MRI-based breast cancer screening of females treated with radiation therapy for childhood cancer can reduce breast cancer mortality in this patient group.” The findings were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 

Aunt Minnie (3/22, Ridley) reports, “Breast ultrasound screening in women with dense breasts can identify invasive cancers not seen on mammography, and performance improves with experience,” research suggests. The findings of the 93,817-screening mammogram study were presented March 20 at the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine’s annual meeting.