Dear Women's Imaging Insider,
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, we are reminded that the fight against this disease continues regardless of the time of year. On the imaging front, breast radiologists continue to find ways to tailor care toward individual patients despite the field of radiology facing its own challenges.
Remote image interpretation has become popular since the COVID-19 pandemic. And breast imagers are increasingly using this method as a more flexible approach to detecting cancers on mammograms or other imaging modalities. Stamatia Destounis, MD, and Amy Patel, MD, spoke with AuntMinnie recently about the pros and cons of remote interpretation. Read what they had to say and what the research indicates in this edition’s featured article.
In other news, the AI risk modeling tool Mirai showed promise for breast imaging in a recent study. Researchers spoke to AuntMinnie about how Mirai could help predict interval cancers from mammograms.
Recent studies have also demonstrated the utility of preoperative breast MRI. These include how younger women may benefit most from preop MRI for reducing their chances of cancer recurrence and how auditing preop MRIs is feasible under the forthcoming version of BI-RADS. Another study, however, found that this modality is less likely to be used for older patients, Black patients, individuals with Medicaid or Medicare, and those without full-time employment.
In other news, research continues to explore how breast cancer affects Black women. One study tied high social adversity to a higher incidence of triple-negative breast cancer among U.S. Black women, and another documented that breast tumor trends are similar between women in Ghana and Black women in the U.S. But Susan G. Komen reported some good news in early October, highlighting national data showing that fewer Black women are dying from breast cancer.
Finally, research has revealed the consequences of missing regular screening mammography. One study out of Sweden found that women who did not take part in their immediate past screening were more likely to have worse outcomes, including larger tumors, lymph node involvement, and distant metastasis. Another study reported that women are 40% more likely to die of breast cancer later in life if they skip their first breast cancer screening appointment.
Keep checking out our Women’s Imaging content area for the latest news in breast imaging research and policy. And keep an eye out for our coverage of RSNA 2025 -- the whole AuntMinnie team will be in Chicago covering new and emerging trends in radiology, breast imaging included. Stop by our booth to say hello!
Amerigo Allegretto
Associate Editor
AuntMinnie.com
