Health News / August 2007
Mammo-CAD
Research published in the July issue of the journal Radiology indicates combining new technologies may assist in identifying and analyzing benign and malignant lesions.
Women at risk for breast cancer are benefiting from earlier diagnosis using Breast MRI exams, which detect tumors missed by mammograms and the American Cancer Society recently recommended women at risk, such as those with a family history, receive an annual Breast MRI in addition to mammography. In addition to the new ACS guidelines, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that women with cancer found in one breast should undergo an MRI scan of the other breast.
However, a study published last month in Radiology indicates that computer-aided detection (CAD) technology used with breast MRI further improves the discrimination of benign and malignant lesions, and reduces the number of false positives and unnecessary biopsies.
The study was conducted by a research team at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the University of Washington Medical Center. Constance Lehman, M.D., corresponding author and director of radiology at the SCCA states, “There are challenges associated with breast MRI, and one is the time it takes to process and evaluate the many images acquired, Computer software programs such as the one evaluated in our study can assist us in interpreting breast MRI scans more easily. Our study suggests that the information provided may improve our ability to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions.”
The computer-aided detection system, called CADstream, turns the data from a breast MRI into 3-dimensional images that help physicians to visualize tumors for diagnosis and determine what areas of tissue are likely to be cancerous versus benign.
Teresa Williams, M.D., and colleagues at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the University of Washington Medical Center did a retrospective examination of 154 breast lesions deemed suspicious by radiologists that were only visible on MRI and that had been biopsied under MRI guidance. They compared the findings and recommendations made by radiologists at the time to the findings obtained using CAD for breast MRI to evaluate studies.
The lesions in the study had been identified and biopsied during 2001-2004 from a study population of 125 women, age 27-86. When the studies were processed using the standardized CAD protocols and enhancement profiles, the radiologists noticed a reduction in their false positive rate.
With published clinical studies supporting breast MRI for increased breast cancer detection, it is becoming increasingly important to improve analysis of the complex, time-consuming studies. Taking advantage of additional technology that advances breast MRI by enhancing quality, standardization and efficiency of studies seems like a logical first step.
Copyright © 2007 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
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