Women in British Columbia will no longer have to wait weeks to find out if their abnormal mammography results are cause for worry. The screening mammography program (SMP) at BC Cancer Agency is expanding the Fast Track referral system to provide all physicians in British Columbia with access to the program designed to reduce the time between an abnormal screening mammography result and access to further diagnostic investigation.

AMICAS, Inc. has announced a new contract with Central Kentucky Radiology that will allow the latter to use AMICAS Financials(TM) to streamline their radiology billing and AMICAS RIS(TM) to gain practice management efficiencies and to further improve service delivery. Central Kentucky Radiology, a 24-radiologist practice, provides interpretation services for 14 hospitals and four imaging centers. In practice for more than 40 years, Central Kentucky Radiology provides mammography, x-ray, ultrasound, CT, MRI, and interventional radiology services.

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The FDA has announced the release of a draft guidance entitled “The Mammography Quality Standards Act Final Regulations: Modifications and Additions to Policy Guidance Help System 13.” The document is aimed at providing the FDA’s current view on the final regulations implementing the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992 MQSA) to the mammography facilities and their personnel. Some of the points addressed in the draft guidance are:
•    General guidance regarding Additional Mammography Reviews (AMRs)
•    Previously approved alternative standards
•    Labeling of mammographic images
•    Mammographic modality and its impact on personnel experience requirements

PACSGEAR, Inc. has announced the introduction of PacsSCAN Film(TM) for Mammography, an application specifically designed for digitizing film-based mammography images. The PacsSCAN Film for Mammography System scans plain film mammograms and allows side-by-side comparison with digital mammography images. The product measurably improves radiologists’ reading times by employing the DICOM Digital Mammography standard. This standard enables the correct sequencing of scanned images on digital mammography workstations. Scanned images can be enhanced by using the company’s proprietary Dynamic Contrast Algorithm (DCA), which gives scanned film a digital look and feel.

According to the results of a major new clinical trial, adding a screening ultrasound examination to routine mammography reveals more breast cancers than mammography alone. This study also showed that supplemental ultrasound may be beneficial in women at high risk of breast cancer who could not, or would not, otherwise undergo a magnetic resonance imaging scan. The trial, however, also found that adding an ultrasound exam increases the rate of false positive findings and unnecessary biopsies.

The American Society of Breast Disease’s Consensus Committee has corroborated that screening MRI is appropriate as an additional test to mammography, clinical breast examination, and ultrasonography for the detection of breast cancer in women who are at high risk. The recommendation was based on the most current data available.

Photo by Ctd 2005

A survey conducted on over 860,000 women aged 70-75 years indicated that breast cancer screening is effective and reduces deaths from the disease in women aged up to 75 years old. In another study carried over about 100,000 women between the age group of 50 and 62 years indicated that the best interval for screening was every three years, which contradicts arguments that women should have mammograms more frequently.