Digital mammography tackles workflow questions

Dear AuntMinnie Member,

Now that full-field digital mammography (FFDM) appears to have proven its clinical value, attention is turning to the technology's economic impact on breast screening practices.

It's an important issue -- FFDM systems are much more expensive than their analog counterparts, and can be a tough sell in today's environment of low reimbursement and high malpractice insurance costs.

We examine FFDM's economic and workflow impact this week in our Women's Imaging Digital Community with a pair of new articles. In the first story, researchers from Northwestern University in Chicago analyze FFDM's effect on workflow by comparing image acquisition and interpretation times. They found that while FFDM images can be acquired more quickly than those from conventional mammography, digital images take longer to interpret. Get the details by clicking here.

In the second article, we profile the experiences of a prominent breast center that implemented digital imaging. The found that while FFDM can enable you to do more with less (both personnel and equipment), there is a learning curve before getting to full productivity. Find out how they did it by clicking here.

Get all these stories and more by visiting our Women's Imaging Digital Community, at women.auntminnie.com.