Breast Tomosynthesis: How I Read It

November 28, 2011 | Priors

Now that digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has gained FDA approval, many breast-imaging providers find themselves excited about the new technology, but facing uncertainty about reimbursement, implementation, and interpretation workflow. There remain a number of questions related to the display of (and approach to interpreting) DBT that need to be... Read More »

Breast MRI:How I Read It

July 04, 2011 | Priors

Breast MRI has emerged as a powerful new tool in the fight against breast cancer. It has found wide acceptance in the past 10 years, and it appears to be one of the most rapidly growing medical studies. When breast MRI is combined with mammography and breast ultrasound, we are... Read More »

Breast-center Care Anywhere: Bringing Subspecialty Expertise to the Rural United States

June 17, 2011 | NONE

Accessing high-quality radiology services in rural areas of the United States always represents a challenge, and nowhere is this dilemma more poignant to both patients and providers than in the area of mammography. Arlene Sussman, MD, director of breast imaging at Virtual Radiologic (vRad), Eden Prairie, Minnesota, says, “Imagine... Read More »

Mammography’s Crisis Offers Opportunity, Too

November 15, 2010 | Regulatory Report

Michael N. Linver, MD, FACR, is committed to mammography screening to detect breast cancer—what he calls screening’s role in saving women’s lives. When it comes to mammography, Linver also has a combative side: Now that screening mammography has come under attack from some critics as a... Read More »

Breast Cancer: The Case for the Radiologist-centered Diagnostic Paradigm

October 13, 2010 | Feature

As the diagnostic work-up for breast cancer has become more complex, often involving multiple imaging modalities, the surgeon-centered diagnostic paradigm in breast care has become less efficient. With the introduction of breast MRI into the diagnostic armamentarium, the need for a new radiologist-centered work-up became evident.

At... Read More »

The Cosmetic Frontier: BOTOX and Beyond

April 29, 2010 | NONE

According to data¹ from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), the number of cosmetic procedures performed in the United States has spiked in the past decade; ASAPS estimates that injections of botulinum toxin A (BOTOX®, Allergan, Inc, Irvine, California) increased by over 3,000% between 1997 and 2003, while collagen... Read More »

Building an Efficient, Effective Women’s Imaging Service

April 29, 2010 | Feature

Ask providers of women’s imaging services why they stick with the niche, in spite of declining reimbursement and the risk of malpractice suits, and the answer you’ll get is a simple one: patient interaction. It’s the ability to work directly with patients in potentially life-changing ways... Read More »

JAMA Article Slams Mammography: At What Cost?

December 01, 2009 | Imaging News

When JAMA published an opinion piece1  in October 2009 questioning the effectiveness of mammography screening and calling for new screening protocols to separate life-threatening cancers from less harmful lesions, the mammography community reacted with alarm. Lawrence Bassett, MD, FACR, Iris Cantor professor of breast imaging at the David Geffen... Read More »

The Reality of Digital Mammography: How Digital Are You?

September 10, 2009 | Feature

Digital mammograms are now being delivered at more than 50% of the mammography sites in the nation. While the technology was validated in the US National Cancer Institute’s Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial,1 the small statistical advantage of digital over analog mammography was found primarily in younger, premenopausal patients... Read More »

Turf Versus Merit: St. Luke’s Centralizes Breast Care

May 15, 2009 | A Better Mousetrap

Hospitals do not cede turf easily to competitors, even within the collegial environment of a multisite system. That, however, is precisely what had to happen before St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network, Bethlehem, Pa, could centralize breast care among its four hospitals and six outpatient imaging sites in... Read More »

Marketing and Wellness Initiatives

May 02, 2009 | NONE

Building a profitable breast imaging service entails deploying the right technology for a multimodality approach, effectively triaging high-risk women, and taking great overall care of the CEOs of family health

As the economy continues to weaken, community outreach is more important than ever for women’s imaging... Read More »

Premium Ultrasound Dressed Up and Ready for Its Close-up

May 01, 2009 | Feature

New applications made possible by improved transducer technology and system software are having an impact on radiologists’ practice patterns

Premium ultrasound carries a significant price tag, thanks to its configuration rich with applications intended to deliver real-time views of the anatomy. Nonetheless, price appears to pose no... Read More »

Building a Turnkey Women’s Imaging Service

May 01, 2009 | Feature

Building a profitable breast imaging service entails deploying the right technology for a multimodality approach, effectively triaging high-risk women, and taking great overall care of the CEOs of family health

Women’s imaging is smart business: for the over-40 female population, yearly breast-cancer screening is an annuity... Read More »

Standardizing Mammographic Workflow and Interpretation

March 15, 2009 | Radinformatics

The passage of the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992 (MQSA) ushered in a new era in breast imaging; with the advent of digital mammography just around the corner, the FDA set about standardizing every aspect of mammographic interpretation, from regulating facilities to developing a unified vocabulary for interpretation and... Read More »

Lossless and Lossy: Study Supports Compression of Mammograms

October 16, 2008 | Radinformatics

Compression of images is not an alien concept in radiology. From radiography to CT, large image files transmitted between physicians’ offices or stored over the long term often undergo some kind of compression. Mammography—one of the last modalities to go digital—remains behind the curve, however. Can mammographic... Read More »

MQSA: Numerically Speaking

June 15, 2008 | NONE

Though the population of women over 40 is on the rise, the number of mammography facilities fully certified in compliance with the provisions of the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) has declined slightly over the past five years. In December 2002, there were 9,306 fully certified facilities; as of December 31, 2007, there were 8,859.<... Read More »

The Rise of Vertically Integrated Women’s Imaging

June 15, 2008 | Feature

Providing the full continuum of breast care earns the loyalty of the all-important female health care consumer, considerable downstream imaging, and the mammography annuity

More and more practices are casting an eye toward vertically integrated women’s imaging as a new way to attract family health care... Read More »

Taking Charge of FFDM Workflow

April 15, 2008 | Radinformatics

Radiographic mammography can be difficult to interpret, and radiologists who read mammograms rely on prior studies to guide them. Many women wisely comply with the recommendation to have this lifesaving study annually, so radiologists are often doing a difficult job within a tight timeline because they must review many... Read More »

UltraClinics: Same-day Cancer Diagnosis in Search of a Market

January 15, 2008 | A Better Mousetrap

Build a better mousetrap and they’ll beat a path to your door—or will they?

UltraClinics, Inc, is a company prepared to offer same-day interpretation of breast-biopsy tissue and, if needed, teleoncology consultation for women undergoing breast-cancer screening. Its processes and technologies have been patented and... Read More »

Breast Imaging Paradox: It’s About the Annuity

October 15, 2007 | A Better Mousetrap

In 2002, Norwalk Radiology—like many radiology practices across the nation—reached a crossroads. Prepare to invest in expensive new digital mammography technology or stop doing mammograms. In fact, more mammography centers in the U.S. closed than opened between 2001 and 2004, but in Norwalk, Conn, practice president Allan Richman, MD,... Read More »

Street Scan:  Hologic Buys Cytyc and a Foot in the OB/GYN Door

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

With its announcement that it would buy Cytyc, Marlborough, Mass, for $6.2 billion, Hologic Inc, Bedford, Mass, broadens its position in the women’s health care market and buys access to its gatekeeper: the obstetrician/gynecologist. Will the move precipitate a consolidation on the vendor side of diagnostics that would... Read More »

Breast MRI: An Imaging Center Opportunity to Raise Bar of Care

June 12, 2007 | Legislative Report

New guidelines from the American Cancer Society [1] recommending annual breast MRI for high-risk women are expected to result in significantly expanded demand for the study. Robert Smith, director for screening at the American Cancer Society, estimated that the new guidelines would add between 1 million and 2 million women a year... Read More »

Q & A with Daniel D. Maki, MD:  A Very Good Month for Breast MRI

April 15, 2007 | Legislative Report

March initiated what could be a sea change in the diagnosis of breast cancer in high-risk women, with results of a breast MR study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and, in the same week, new guidelines issued from the American Cancer Society (ACS) that recommended breast... Read More »

First, Do No Harm

April 15, 2007 | The Big Picture

The past few weeks have witnessed some rather remarkable national press reports about this marvelous profession that is the broad field of diagnostic imaging, and in each round of news coverage we have viewed both the opportunities and threats inherent in the practice of radiology in the public realm…... Read More »

Squeezing Blood from a Turnip

November 15, 2006 | NONE

There are several reasons to offer mammography in a freestanding imaging center, although profits are not usually one of them. Mammography brings decision-makers—women—to the center and many payors are beginning to demand a full range of imaging services from a site before letting it into their networks.... Read More »