TIME (12/9, Park) reported, “In the latest analysis of worldwide data from the World Health Organization, researchers...found that in 39 of the 47 countries studied, breast cancer death rates have declined from the 1980s to 2013.” The findings were presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

    

HealthImaging (12/8, Pearson) reports on a study published online in Clinical Radiology finding that “MRI-detected small enhancing masses and new small enhancing foci, including those smaller than 5 millimeters, should be considered suspicious in women at high risk for breast cancer.” The researchers examined a “family-history database for women who had undergone screening MRI and been diagnosed with breast cancer within two years of the MRI exam.” Of the 23 women they identified, ten “had potentially avoidable delays in diagnosis.” Common reasons for the delay were “small enhancing masses that were overlooked, areas of non-mass enhancement that showed little or no change between screens, false reassurance from normal conventional imaging at assessment, and overreliance on short-interval repeat MRI.” 

Diagnostic Imaging (12/8) reports on a study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology finding that “public lectures about breast cancer screening decrease anxiety and improve knowledge in women.” The study included 117 women, average age 45, who sat for “one-hour sessions of structured lectures and question-and-answer periods,” with “anonymous pre- and post-session questionnaires.” The women “reported decreased anxiety and improved knowledge” and demonstrated that knowledge by their ability to answer certain questions correctly. 

HealthImaging (12/7, Pearson) reports on a study published online in Radiology finding that “most radiologists performing digital screening mammography in US community practice are meeting or exceeding most of the American College of Radiology’s performance recommendations,” yet “almost half have higher abnormal interpretation rates (AIRs) than established benchmarks and ACR’s recommendations on that metric.” The study was based on data from “nearly 1.7 million digital screening mammograms of 792,808 women between 2007 and 2013.” 

HealthImaging (12/2, Sipek) reported that at this year’s RSNA 2016 conference, in an effort to “empower female radiologists,” experts presented a session called “Women in Leadership.” During the session, a “panel of four female radiologists...spoke on a variety of topics ranging from why women don’t ask for leadership roles to how to attain a leadership position within your organization.” Currently, women account for only 27% of radiologists, and just 16% of “academic radiology chairs.”