Breast Imaging

Breast imaging includes imaging modalities used for breast cancer screenings and planning therapy once cancer is detected. Mammography is the primary modality used. Mammogram technology is moving from 2D full-field digital mammography (FFDM) to breast tomosynthesis, or 3D mammography, which helps reduce false positive exams by allowing radiologists to look through the layers of tissue. Overlapping areas of dense breast tissue on 2D mammograms appear similar to cancers and 3D tomo helps determine if suspect areas are cancer or not. About 50% of women have dense breast tissue, which appears white on mammograms, the same as cancers, making diagnosis difficult. Radiologists use the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) scoring system to define the density of breast tissue. Many states now require patients to be notified if they have dense breasts so they understand their mammograms might be suboptimal and they should use supplemental imaging that can see through the dense areas. This includes tomosythesis, breast ultrasound, automated breast ultrasound (ABUS), breast MRI, contrast enhanced mammography and nuclear imaging, including positron emission mammography (PEM).

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Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) President John Lewin, MD, explains some of new initiatives and technology in mammography to increase earlier breast cancer detection. #SBI #breastimaging #mammography

VIDEO: SBI president outlines trends in breast imaging

Society of Breast Imaging President John Lewin, MD, explains some of the new initiatives and technology in mammography that are designed to increase early breast cancer detection.

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Is laughter the best medicine? Why patients view a sense of humor as an admirable trait in radiologists

In a new study, patients who were subject to a "humorous" intervention reported feeling less anxious during their exam and more receptive to discussions with a radiologist.

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'Economically unsustainable': How Medicare reimbursements hinder adoption of latest mammo technology

“Current reimbursement contributes to inequity because locating new technology in facilities that serve patients with public insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, is not economically sustainable," authors of a new paper in Radiology suggested.

Interview with Stamatia Destounis, MD, FACR, a radiologist and managing partner at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care in Rochester, New York, chair of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Breast Commission, serves on the Public Information Advisors Committee for Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and on the Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) Communication Committee. She discusses post-COVID economic issues facing breast imaging centers, including the "great resignation" and lower reimbursements.

VIDEO: Issues with the great resignation and lower reimbursements in breast imaging

Stamatia Destounis, MD, FACR, a radiologist and managing partner at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care in Rochester, New York, and chair of the ACR Breast Commission, discusses post-COVID-19 economic issues facing breast imaging centers, including staffing problems from the "Great Resignation" and lower reimbursements. 

Women with extremely dense breasts benefit most from DBT plus synthesized mammography

The imaging combo more than tripled the number of invasive cancers detected per 1,000 women compared to digital mammography.

Example of the four types of breast tissue density. The density of fibroglandular tissue inside the breast impacts the ability to easily see cancers. Cancers are very easy to spot in fatty breasts, but are almost impossible to find in extremely dense breasts. These examples show craniocaudal mammogram findings characterized as almost entirely fatty (far left), scattered areas of fibroglandular density (second from left), heterogeneously dense (second from right), and extremely dense (far right). RSNA

Breast density notification laws blanket 90% of U.S. women, yet still no national reporting standard is at hand. Why is that?

Dense breast experts Wendie Berg, MD, and JoAnn Pushkin, executive director of DenseBreast-info Inc., explain the current status of breast density patient inform laws, reimbursement and new technologies to aid cancer detection. 

Illustration of the four types of breast tissue densities. The more dense, the harder it is for radiologists to detect cancers, which had led to about 40 states to now require notiofication of patients if they have dense breasts and the impact on their care, with possible miss-reads and that they may need supplemental imaging.

VIDEO: What is the impact of breast density notification laws?

Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) President John Lewin, MD, discusses how legislation concerning breast density notifications has impacted mammography.

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How breast cancer screening could increase lung cancer screening compliance in eligible women

Breast cancer screenings present an additional opportunity to identify more women who would also qualify for lung cancer screening, authors of a new paper in JAMA said.

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