Mammography: Recent Recommendations Create New Battleground in the Fight Against Breast Cancer

by Olga Deshchenko, DOTmed News Reporter | June 03, 2010

In its reasoning for the updated guidelines, the Task Force cited high levels of emotional distress that women experience as a result of false positives. Research on 3D technology shows promising results for significant reductions in the rate of callbacks. In a study of nearly 1,500 women at the Breast Imaging Center at Emory University in Georgia researchers found that the 3D screening method can reduce the incidence of false positives by 49 percent.

"The fact that this technology demonstrated in the study to reduce callbacks by almost half is very big, as far as patient care goes," says Vandergrift.
No OEM is yet to receive FDA approval for tomosynthesis or 3D applications, but the race is on. Other major manufacturers have also introduced other 3D technologies in Europe that will surely make their way across the Atlantic in the near future.

Although providers use other modalities, such as MRI and ultrasound for breast imaging, mammography continues to be the preferred technology for early breast cancer detection.

The effectiveness of mammography in reducing breast cancer mortality is evident, and other nations are catching up to the screening standards of the United States and parts of Europe.

"On a worldwide basis, the amount of screening mammography is increasing," says Archer. It's being adopted in some of the countries where it hasn't been very prevalent before, like in Latin America and Asia."

Looking ahead, other modalities will become more common supplements in achieving high levels of certainty in breast imaging. Vulnerabilities in the industry's workforce and conflicting views on screening recommendations continue to pose challenges for the market. However, with no significant rivals looming on the horizon, mammography will continue its reign as the gold standard of early breast cancer detection.

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