Screening

In his "Letter to the Readers", co-editor-in-chief of the journal ONCOLOGY Howard S. Hochster, MD, reviews the utility of next-generation sequencing in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

CancerNetwork® reports on updates in prevention and earlier diagnosis of colorectal, breast, and other cancers.

A novel imaging technology was cleared by the FDA to detect polyps with neoplastic potential during conduct of colonoscopy that aligns with pathological assessment with greater than 90% predictive ability.

The liquid biopsy assay RaDaR has been given a breakthrough device designation for use in the detection of minimal residual disease in early-stage cancers.

Investigators suggest that results of a study may help to identify concerns of individuals undergoing panel testing and ways to support their needs.

The Breast Cancer Index assay is the only of its kind to be recommended in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for the treatment of breast cancer as being predictive of extended adjuvant endocrine therapy.

Digital breast tomosynthesis plus synthetic mammography depicted more cancers and found a lower number of stage II cancers at repeat screening compared with FFDM.

This study demonstrated that the concurrent use of this new artificial intelligence tool alongside mammography improved the diagnostic performance of radiologists in the detection of breast cancer without prolonging their workflow.

This study found that abbreviated breast magnetic resonance imaging as a supplemental screening test in women with dense breasts shows an increase in cancer detection over digital breast tomosynthesis screening.

With today being National Mammography Day, here are the latest updates in mammography research.

The expert from the American Cancer Society spoke about updated guidelines published recently regarding recommendations on diet and physical activity for cancer prevention.

An annual screening for breast cancer using a combination of MRI and mammography could be an effective program for high-risk women, particularly those who are known BRCA mutation carriers.

Computer software used to help decipher screening mammograms reduces interpretation accuracy, increases the rate of unnecessary biopsies, and offers no clear improvement in the detection of invasive breast cancer, the largest and most comprehensive community-based study of the technology has found.

A computerized mail and phone reminder program managed by appointment secretaries significantly increased the percentage of patients undergoing annual mammography at the Mayo Clinic

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the contralateral breast in 969 women newly diagnosed with cancer in one breast detected 30 (3.1%) contralateral breast cancers that were missed by mammography and clinical breast exam at the time of diagnosis.

A mobile mammography unit that links a digital mammography system with a commercial satellite service provides near real-time interpretation of breast imaging scans to Native American women on remote rural reservations

A random sampling of 2.3% of the imaging centers that meet Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) certification showed that the national median cash price for a screening mammogram is more than double the price that is reimbursed by Medicare.

New subgroup analyses from the Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST) Investigators Group confirm previous results that digital screening mammography is significantly more accurate than film screening mammography in young women with dense breasts but not in women overall.

White women havea higher incidence of breast cancer thanAfrican-American women, but African-American women develop the disease ata younger age, are diagnosed later, andare more likely to die of the disease, accordingto the National Cancer Institute.

Researchers have found that mammography coupled with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is extremely sensitive in the detection of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

Nine weeks of trastuzumab (Herceptin) given concurrently with single-agent docetaxel (Taxotere) or vinorelbine (Navelbine) prior to combination chemotherapy improves survival in HER2-positive breast cancer patients, compared with no trastuzumab, with the docetaxel regimen having a slight advantage over vinorelbine.

ARLINGTON, Virginia-Data from more than 40,000 women who underwent both digital and film mammography at 33 sites in the US and Canada show that, while the techniques have similar overall diagnostic accuracy in breast cancer screening, digital mammography is more accurate in women under the age of 50 years, women with radiographically dense breasts, and pre- or perimenopausal women.

MILAN, Italy-In women with fibroglandular or dense breasts, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is more sensitive than mammography for detection of multiple malignant foci, suggesting that a dynamic MRI examination is warranted before treatment planning in this group of patients, a team of Italian radiologists and surgeons has concluded. Yet in breasts with an almost completely fatty pattern, both techniques had comparable sensitivity, their multicenter, prospective, nonrandomized study showed. Further, while MRI achieved a 17% gain in sensitivity over mammography in detection of invasive foci, the two techniques had similar sensitivity in detection of in situ foci, and neither had a strong positive predictive value (PPV), the researchers found.

In just 10 years, the cost of screening mammography litigation in the United States could top $250 million a year, a recent analysis has found. The analysis, presented at this year’s American Roentgen Ray Society meeting in Atlanta, is based on a

ATLANTA-Compared with independent double reading of mammograms, consensus double reading detects slightly more cancers while significantly decreasing recall rates, thereby minimizing the anxiety that women might experience from undergoing a second mammogram, Susan Harvey, MD, said at the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society (abstract 63).

The journal Lancet recently published an important analysis from six physicians at Weill Cornell Medical College (359:404-406, 2002), rebutting an article published in an earlier issue of Lancet (358:1340-1342, 2001) that cast doubt on the value of mammography in preventing death from breast cancer.

WASHINGTON-Amid continuing controversy over the effectiveness of screening mammography for breast cancer, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has extended its recommendations to include women between the ages of 40 and 49, after concluding that the procedure reduces breast cancer deaths.

BETHESDA, Maryland-The scientific conflict about whether mammography saves lives has been reignited by the decision by an independent advisory committee to rescind its support for such screening and to emphasize the uncertainty of the evidence supporting it.

The number of women receiving mammograms is higher than ever, according to the results of a study conducted by the Board of Sponsors for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). The study found that more women are getting

Would you pay an additional fee to get your screening mammography results right after your examination? In a random survey of 120 women, the majority said no. In fact, one-third of the women said they preferred to get their results at a later