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Learn more at carestream.com/cloud CLINICAL COLLABORATION AND AFFORDABLE IT SUPPORT MATTER. F O S T E R I N G C L I N I C A L C O L L A B O R AT I O N . K N O W I N G M AT T E R S .F O S T E R I N G C L I N I C A L C O L L A B O R AT I O N . K N O W I N G M AT T E R S . Optimal patient care demands close clinical collaboration – which requires convenient, real-time information access and sharing. Increased information exchange means greater demand on IT infrastructure and support, often generating costs difficult to plan for and budget. Vue delivers secure cloud-based services that can consolidate silos of data and facilitate image-exchange services – all in a predictable operational model. V U E . K N O W I N G M AT T E R S . www.european-hospital.com RADIOLOGY Mammography screening can reduce deaths need to realise that there are costs and that an important challenge is to identify women with breast cancer who have a disease that is not likely to be lethal. ‘In fact,’ he suggested, ‘it is extremely important to identify cases with low malignant potential, diagnosis and date of breast cancer death). ‘That’s because it is impera- tive to distinguish between women who could benefit from screening and women who could not ben- efit,’ he added. ‘Actually, this corre- sponds to the elementary distinction between exposed and unexposed individuals in observational studies.’ Benefits and harm ‘Benefits are typically indicated in terms of mortality reduction, and our study adds to the evidence that mammography screening reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer,’ he said. ‘However, screening picks up a certain proportion of breast cancer cases with limited malignant potential, and unnecessary treatment of these cases will be regarded as harmful. The challenge is that the proportion of these latter cases is very difficult to estimate, and that the cases cannot be identified on the individual level.’ While the professor said that the results suggest a clear mortality ben- efit, he believes health professionals because these patients should prob- ably receive a different treatment from that which is currently the con- ventional choice.’ As for the future of mammogra- phy, he believes that, with increasing improvement in treatment, gradually more women need to be screened to provide the benefits reported in the study. However, he points out that much depends on new break- throughs in treatment, and more sys- tematic management of breast cancer patients. The potential impact on clinical practice, of course, depends on the results of future research. ‘With increasing breast cancer awareness among potential patients, better organisation of diagnostic work up and improved treatment, the need for screening may be reduced but… just when these requirements are fulfilled is diffi- cult to predict,’ concluded Professor Vatten. orwegian breast cancer research n new treatments and more systematic management of patients Since 1996, Professor Lars Vatten has chaired the Epidemiology Department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Medical School, Trondheim, where his research interests focus on cancer, perinatal and cardiovascular epidemiology. Initially a family doctor, he became a research fellow at the Norwegian Cancer Society in 1987 before moving to the Norwegian Medical Research Council in 1990 as an epidemiology researcher before taking up his current role. Prof. Vatten has published more than 300 papers, is a member of The Norwegian Royal Academy of Sciences and, in 2010, he received the King Olav V Prize for Cancer Research. 11

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