Women’s imaging encompasses many radiology procedures related to women and the diseases that are most prevalent to women such as breast cancer or gynecological issues. Mammogram, breast ultrasound, breast MRI and breast biopsy are the most commonly used procedures.
Rather than test artificial intelligence's ability to detect malignant lesions on imaging, researchers instead recently explored how it impacts radiologists' interpretation processes.
The photoacoustic CT, or PACT, imaging technique is said to perform comparably to mammography for cancer detection, but without the discomfort of standard mammograms.
The agent “exhibits powerful tumor delineation” in challenging cases of determining cancer subtypes, and could potentially lead to more personalized, effective treatment strategies.
Viewing patients' priors consistently improves readers' performances, regardless of experience level, specialization or the volume of screening mammograms they are accustomed to reading.
“These findings suggest that changing the genetic testing paradigm to population-based testing could prevent thousands of breast and ovarian cancers," experts wrote in JAMA.
Digital breast tomosythesis now makes up close to 50% of mammography systems in the U.S. "Tomo is going to replace just straight digital mammography simply because of the benefit of fewer recalls," explained Debra L. Monticciolo, MD.
While prior imaging studies have compared changes that occur in the brain before pregnancy and after childbirth, this latest analysis is the first to span multiple time points during the full gestational period.
Debra L. Monticciolo, MD, past president of both the Society of Breast Imaging and the American College of Radiology, explains the advantages and disadvantages of current breast screening technology.