Digital Breast Cancer Screening on the Rise along with Anxiety, The New York Times Reports

In a front page story of today's New York Times, Denise Grady writes that the transition of mammography from film to digital has created some anxiety in patients whose doctors are learning the new technique. For some physicians initially using the modality, there is an increased number of follow-up visits for additional studies, which can be unnerving to patients, Grady reports. Some radiologists interviewed agree that the transition to digital mammography has increased patient anxiety through repeated or additional studies; others don't. What they do agree is that it is a superior technology for screening breast cancer. The Times reports that digital machines are in 35 percent of mammography clinics. What Does Kathy Plesser, MD, Say? So, my wife Kathy, a radiologist in private practice in Manhattan, doesn't necessarily agree with the premise of the article - that it creates anxiety. Here's what she says about the story and the topic: "The transition to digital mammography from film screen is not as difficult as the article leads you to believe. It is daunting initially to imagine the change. But the change is not nearly as difficult as we imagine, particularly because as radiologists we have become familiar with digital images and are used to manipulating images in CT and MRI. The transition can also be eased by initially printing hard copy images (ie film) from the digital images so that you can view both." "As for recall rates, in my experience, the problem has been with microcalcifications and not masses, distortion or any of the other radiographic signs of malignancy. Digital mammography shows microcalcifications significantly better than film screen which can lead to an increased callback rate and biopsies. Microcalcifications, however, can be the earliest sign of breast cancer which makes their visualization important. I believe that my experience with this transition is typical, at least among so called dedicated breast imagers." In this segment, K...

Channel: Beet.TV Video Length: 0s Date Found: Fri, Apr 11 2008 9:02 PM Category: Science Date Produced: Thu, Apr 10 2008 10:52 AM View Count: 86