Dear Women's Imaging Insider,
A new article shows how systematic evaluation of breast cancer screening programs can help identify gaps and lead to implementation of corrective measures. The research from Morocco may be useful for other developing countries introducing clinical exam-based breast cancer screening programs, and perhaps eventually full mammographic screening. Read more here.
Also in your Women's Imaging Community, contrast-enhanced ultrasound appears to be an effective alternative to MRI for identifying early cervical cancer -- especially in women who have tumors small enough to make them candidates for surgery, according to a study from Sweden.
Israeli researchers have now demonstrated that thermography may provide a viable radiotherapy monitoring tool for assessing the effect of radiation on tumors. They have developed a method to detect tumors in a thermal image and estimate changes in tumor and vasculature during radiotherapy, validating this in a study of six patients with advanced breast cancer.
Meanwhile, the breast cancer screening debate persists, with each side vehemently arguing their perspective. First, JAMA Oncology published an article stating that not offering breast screening to women at lower risk of cancer could improve the cost-effectiveness of screening programs and reduce overdiagnosis while maintaining most of the benefits of screening.
However, not everyone agrees with these findings. Vocal breast-screening proponent Dr. László Tabár said everything the authors wrote was "totally wrong" and not grounded in reality. "It is simply another example of the type of 'nonscience' published by a leading tabloid journal," he wrote. What do you think? Sound off below the article or in our Forums.
Speaking of mammography, using gridless mammography acquisition results in a lower radiation dose for the patient. The Danish study involving more than 70,000 women demonstrated that gridless mammography acquisition with software scatter correction is an alternative to grid-based acquisition in mammography.
Be sure to head on over to the Women's Imaging Community to scope out other stories that will interest you. And as always, I enjoy hearing from you, so contact me anytime.
