Dear Women's Imaging Insider,
Quality assurance of image interpretation plays a central role in screening and mammography for maintaining minimum standards and supporting continuous improvement, but the recommendations of European bodies or national organizations often get overlooked.
This is the key finding of an important new survey conducted by the European Society of Breast Imaging. The results were published on 22 July and will now be discussed at the society's annual congress in September. You can get the full story in today's top article.
Another publication that has caught our eye this week comes from Barcelona, Spain. Ultrasound has shined a light on how isthmic contractions occur in close to half of pregnant women after bladder voiding, and it takes about 20 minutes for complete relaxation of the isthmus after a contraction.
In other news, breast imaging pioneer Prof. Dr. Christiane Kuhl, PhD, and her colleagues have published the results of a study about contrast use in MRI. Significantly, she's convinced that gadopiclenol is the ideal contrast agent for healthy people requiring repetitive contrast agent injections, including women with extremely dense breast tissue who undergo MRI for screening.
Reliable data about the cost-effectiveness of mammography are hard to come by, so analysis from Dublin is bound to prove appealing. The researchers' main aim was to provide clinicians with an evidence-based decision-making tool for assessing a symptomatic patient's need for imaging in the setting of a normal breast exam.
The consensus view is that contact shielding of patients is unnecessary in most cases, but shielding is still widely used in many radiology departments. Practice often lags behind theoretical developments based on new evidence and guidance, and changing habits takes time and effort, according to Shane Foley, PhD, the co-author of a recent European survey on the topic.
This letter has highlighted several of the many articles posted over the past month in the Women's Imaging Community. Please take a close look at the full list below, and feel free to contact me if you have ideas for future coverage.
