The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently approved coverage of lung cancer screenings using spiral CT imaging for long-time smokers, a decision that many feel was long overdue and will lead to thousands of lives saved through early detection. But not everyone is enthusiastic about the decision.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple has signed his state’s breast density reporting bill requiring that patients are notified if a mammogram reveals dense breast tissue.

Pancreatic cancer presents an imposing foe. Mortality is high, owing to the fact that many cases are diagnosed late stage, yet routine screening of those at average risk is not practical. The key will be targeting screening to those at high risk, and one of this week’s top stories featured the short-term results of a small screening program that did just that.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a notice correcting the 2015 MPFS Final Rule, asking providers who perform diagnostic digital breast tomosynthesis without performing accompanying 2D mammography to still code for both procedures.

Short-term results of an MRI-based screening program for patients at high risk of pancreatic cancer, published online in JAMA Surgery, showed the program was able to identify pancreatic lesions in 40 percent of patients, ultimately leading to surgery in five patients.

Tumor paint, a substance derived from scorpion venom that can cross the blood-brain barrier, can make brain tumors glow under near-infrared light, making them easier targets for surgeons.

The national costs of false-positive mammograms and breast cancer overdiagnoses clock in at an estimated $4 billion per year, according to a study published in the April issue of Health Affairs.

Overall rates for cancer deaths are decreasing among all demographics nationwide, according to “The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2011.” The report, published Mar. 30 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, also analyzed breast cancer subtypes for the first time ever.