United Kingdom
Brenda Marsh reports on the country's flourishing and expanding breast screening programme
Mammography
Digital mammography and tomosynthesis
It is hoped that a new technology, digital breast tomosynthesis or 3-D mammography, will overcome three drawbacks of traditional screening mammography: discomfort with breast compression, cancer concealed within overlapping tissue and the limited number of views.
MR spectroscopy
USA - MRI is playing an increasingly important role in breast cancer screening in the US, especially in the screening of high risk patients. It has proven to be more sensitive than mammography examinations, but is less accurate in the differentiation between benign and malignant lesions.
Spain
Dr Eduardo de la Sota reports
Austria
EH correspondent H-C Pruszinsky reports
Two mammograms on one screen
The first 15 megapixels display, which enables radiologists to monitor two mammograms on one screen, was launched at RSNA 2007 by the Japanese firm Totoku.
Want a second opinion? Ask the computer
Radiologists frequently have limited time when examining mammography images, especially under screening conditions. In addition to their training and experience, the computer can offer beneficial support in the detection of breast cancer, due to special Computer Aided Detection (CAD) software solutions
Mammography Screening in Germany
Despite efforts in recent years to reduce the number of deaths caused by breast cancer it is still the most common cancer occurring in women. Approx. 47,500 new cases of the disease appear in Germany per year, a situation comparable with other European countries and with the USA. In 2004 alone, 17,592 women died from the sequela of a breast carcinoma (Federal Statistics Office statistics on…
New Breath for the Avignonnaise Radiology
Twenty years ago, during the construction of the Henri Duffaut Hospital in the community of Avignon, on the banks of the Durance, we transferred our radiology service at the Hospital St. Marthe (today the University Centre of Avignon, classified as a historical monument by the government) to the first floor of the new hospital. Over the years, our service has been restructured and adapted to the…
State governments unite to lower mortality
Australia - The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has reported a 26% decrease in the breast cancer mortality rate among women aged 50-69 years between 1990 and 2004.
Steep drop in breast cancer rates
USA - A steep drop in breast cancer rates between 2002 and 2003 correlates with the decline in hormone therapy use, according to research froma the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Screening: Patients respond well to web-based reminders
USA - Web-based mail and phone reminder software significantly increased the percentage of patients who received preventive health services, according to a study led by Rajeev Chaudhry MBBS, at the Mayo Clinic, published in May in The Archives of Internal Medicine.
The 27th Annual Convention of the German Society for Senology
Congress President Professor Juergen Dunst MD praises major advances and multidisciplinary efforts, and outlines future hopes for breast cancer patients
World's largest gathering of cancer specialists told: Mammography is still key to survival
Rapid diagnosis and treatment are the keys to breast cancer survival - and an elastogram mammography continues to play a central role in breast cancer detection according to research presented recently in Chicago, at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), writes Ian Mason.
27 th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Senology
This year´s congress of the German Society of Senology (June 21.-23. in Lübeck, Germany) will deal with latest developments in the diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer like screening and early detection methods or new diagnostic modalities.
Expanding medical horizons
This was the motto of the ECR 2007 in Vienna, where a group of high-ranking experts discussed diseases of the 21st century; research competition between the US and Europe; the conditions needed to progress leading medical R&D - moderated by Congress President Professor Christian J Herold.
Breast cancer screening
20% of all cancers diagnosed annually among Lithuanian women is cancer of the breast. Screening programms should reduce this number.
Privately-owned radiology group speeds diagnoses
We asked radiologist Cyrille H Benoit MD, Director of the Bellevue Zurich Radiology Institute, about the group's choice of radiology equipment - particularly its PACS - and the rules of reimbursement in the Swiss healthcare system.
The RSNA 2005
Late in November and into early December, as icy air streamed over the shores of Lake Michigan - affirming the nickname `windy city´ for Chicago - radiologists continued to immigrate here en masse for their biggest annual gathering. This year the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) held its 91st annual meeting, parallel with the scientific congress and trade fair. The exhibition alone…
No reimbursement for digital screening
Interviewed by Daniela Zimmermann, Executive Director of EH, Jean Hooks, General Manager, Global Mammography at GE Healthcare, examined reasons behind the slow uptake of digital technology in some European countries, comparing this with its early adoption in the USA
Quality assurance first
Germany's Federal Committee of Physicians and Statutory Health Insurance Funds set up three model projects, based in Bremen, Wiesbaden and Weser-Ems, to trial the third edition of the European guidelines on healthcare within the German system and to develop the necessary organisational structures to make these work.
Ploughing vigorously forward
The UK - In the 1990s, the nationally co-ordinated NHS Breast Screening Programme was already saving lives - a 21% fall in breast cancer mortality over the last decade and, with the cervical screening programme, this was viewed as among the best cancer screening programmes in the world. However, in that period, the country's cancer services, as a whole did not match up to those of other European…