Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Despite CT's versatility in imaging many parts of the body, it has never really caught on for breast imaging, due in large measure to concerns over radiation dose and cost relative to mammography. But Italian researchers believe that MDCT could play a role in certain aspects of breast imaging, according to an article by staff writer Kate Madden Yee that we're featuring in our Women's Imaging Digital Community.
The study evaluated the effectiveness of a low-dose MDCT technique in differentiating breast lesions originally found on mammography or ultrasound scans. The researchers found that breast MDCT had some advantages over breast MRI, another adjunctive breast imaging modality.
Find out what they are by clicking here, or visit the Women's Imaging Digital Community at womens.auntminnie.com.
VC reimbursement
In other news, momentum is building in the U.S. to establish nationwide Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for virtual colonoscopy.
A group of medical societies, including the American College of Radiology, today announced that they had sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services informing CMS that there is sufficient clinical evidence to support virtual colonoscopy payments.
The letter cites recent clinical research, as well as the inclusion of virtual colonoscopy in screening guidelines from the American Cancer Society, as evidence that the technology is ready for reimbursement prime-time. Click here to learn more.
In other VC news, investigators from Korea report that thinner CT slices are far more important for lesion detection than low noise, which had very little effect on sensitivity. Click here to read the article, or visit our Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community at vc.auntminnie.com.
![Images show the pectoralis muscles of a healthy male individual who never smoked (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; body mass index [BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], 28.4; number of cigarette pack-years, 0; forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], 97.6% predicted; FEV1: forced vital capacity [FVC] ratio, 0.71; pectoralis muscle area [PMA], 59.4 cm2; pectoralis muscle volume [PMV], 764 cm3) and a male individual with a smoking history and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; BMI, 27.5; number of cigarette pack-years, 43.2, FEV1, 48% predicted; FEV1:FVC, 0.56; PMA, 35 cm2; PMV, 480.8 cm3) from the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease (i.e., CanCOLD) study. The CT image is shown in the axial plane. The PMV is automatically extracted using the developed deep learning model and overlayed onto the lungs for visual clarity.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/03/genkin.25LqljVF0y.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=focalpoint&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
