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Mobile Mammography’s Value | News from SABCS 2024
December 16, 2024
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Together with
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“Providing mammography access to rural women is especially vital as they tend to have later stage (i.e., worse) breast cancer diagnoses and more adverse health outcomes than their urban and suburban counterparts.”
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Pelzl C et al, in a new study on mobile mammography use.
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New tools are becoming available for body composition analysis. In this article for The Imaging Wire by Voronoi Health Analytics, learn how the company’s AI-powered solutions can automatically extract quantitative body composition data.
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Despite the proven value of breast screening, compliance rates still aren’t as high as they should be. A new study in Clinical Breast Cancer shows how mobile mammography can improve screening adherence – especially among groups traditionally underserved in the healthcare system.
Estimates of mammography compliance vary – the American Cancer Society estimates that the overall U.S. breast screening rate held steady at 64-66% from 2000 to 2018.
- But a variety of factors can influence screening rates, from race to income to location.
Mobile mammography is an obvious solution that brings the imaging test to women rather than requiring them to travel.
- But some questions have persisted about mobile screening, such as whether it might cannibalize facility-based mammography programs, which have higher fixed costs.
In the new study, researchers from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute reviewed CMS claims data for 2.6M eligible women from 2004 to 2021.
Researchers found …
- 50% of women had received a screening mammogram.
- Only 0.4% used mobile mammography, but rates were higher in rural areas (1%) compared to large cities (0.3%) and small towns (0.4%).
- American Indian or Alaska Native race was the factor most predictive for receiving mobile mammography (OR=5.5).
- Other predictive factors included residence in a rural geography (OR=3.3), as well as in a community with lower income (OR=1.4).
- Mobile mammography did not cannibalize facility-based mammography, based on data from heat maps showing utilization of both types of service.
Researchers concluded that mobile mammography can reduce health disparities by bringing imaging technology to underserved communities that might not otherwise have access to it.
- The findings echo a study earlier this year in which mobile mammography was also found to benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions that occur when patients have to travel to medical facilities for screening.
The Takeaway
It may seem like a no-brainer to bring imaging to the people who need it, but the new study provides valuable evidence that the practice works on a national scale. Increased use of mobile imaging is an important tool for addressing persistent disparities in access to care.
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Give Your Patients the Experience They Want
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3 Good Reasons to Add Mammography
There are three good reasons to add mammography services at your imaging site as providers expect higher demand for breast imaging services. Get the facts about mammography on this resource page from Siemens Healthineers.
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- New Tools for Body Composition Analysis: New tools are becoming available for body composition analysis – unlocking its power for monitoring organ and tissue health and predicting treatment outcomes. In this article for The Imaging Wire by Voronoi Health Analytics, learn how the company’s AI-powered tools – including the DAFS and DAFS Express solutions – can automatically extract quantitative body composition data. Voronoi’s solutions go beyond measuring muscle and fat to quantify composition in all organs and tissues, generating data to drive predictive models.
- Risk-Based Breast Screening Goes Digital: In a presentation from last week’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, researchers presented data on their conversion from paper-based risk assessment forms to the CARE digital program from Ambry Genetics. Of 252k people screened, a higher percentage were identified with the digital platform (26% vs. 25%), followed through with genetic testing (21% vs. 12%), and had positive results (9.6% vs. 6%). Researchers said the digital tool was easier to use than paper forms and captured more at-risk patients.
- Image-Based AI Predicts Risk: In another paper from SABCS 2024, researchers from Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that breast cancer risk prediction based on AI analysis of images performed better than the traditional Tyrer-Cusick model over 10 years of follow-up. In 8.7k women in Sweden and the U.S., the AI-based model classified a higher percentage as high risk (9.7% vs. 2.2%), indicating they should undergo preventive strategies. The AI model targets nearly one-third (32%) of breast cancers.
- EMR Data Mining Predicts Cancer: Finally, U.K. researchers in another SABCS talk found that an AI-based algorithm that analyzes EMR data for clinical terms that could indicate breast cancer was able to find high-risk patients. Researchers applied the “C the Signs” algorithm to 900k patients in whom 19.9k breast cancer cases were diagnosed over 19 years. The algorithm detected breast cancer with 77% sensitivity and 80% specificity, and 21% of cancer cases were identified up to five years before their diagnosis by primary care physicians.
- Lunit Study Wins RSNA Prize: Lunit’s Insight CXR AI algorithm helped clinicians interpret chest X-rays in a study that won a prize for trainee research at RSNA 2024. Researchers from Oxford University had 30 clinicians interpret 500 radiographs remotely using the U.K.’s Report and Image Quality Control network. Insight CXR identified abnormalities with accuracy of 83-99% and the AI achieved AUC above 0.90 for eight pathologies studied. Separately, Lunit’s Insight MMG algorithm has gone live in the breast screening program in Australia’s state of New South Wales.
- MRI for Prostate Cancer Monitoring: Researchers are refining the best ways to employ MRI for screening and managing patients with prostate cancer. In a paper in JAMA Oncology, German researchers found that in men with elevated PSA levels, it was safe to avoid prostate biopsy if they had a negative MRI scan, and instead monitor them with biannual follow-up visits with transrectal ultrasound and PSA tests over three years. In 233 men who avoided prostate biopsy, only 3% were diagnosed with clinically significant prostate cancer.
- Blackford Adds New Partners: Blackford added a pair of companies with AI development solutions to its Blackford Platform – a departure from the point solutions the company usually offers. The company most recently partnered with Aival to give Platform customers access to Aival Analysis Lab, a software suite that lets users evaluate, compare, and monitor the performance of commercially available AI solutions. Separately, Blackford added Envisionit Deep AI’s RATify AI assurance tool to Platform. RATify is also an AI validation and monitoring solution.
- Hospital Pioneers Virtual Technologist: If you’re a radiologic technologist who loves virtual reality technology, here’s your chance to create your dream job. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has hired what it calls a “VR technologist” to guide patients through interventional radiology procedures using VR games. Phoenix Hunt outfits patients with virtual reality headsets and guides them through games during their interventions – which with his assistance can often be performed without sedation. The hospital plans to expand VR to other departments and make VR technologists available more widely.
- Bayer Adds Platform Partners: At RSNA 2024, Bayer launched its new AI Innovation Platform for AI algorithm development, and announced partnerships with imaging IT companies for the Google Cloud-based solution. New AIIP partners include OneMedNet, PhantomX, RadImageNet, Segmed, and Telepaxx Medical Data, while the platform will also support Activeloop’s Deep Lake database for AI model training and Envisionit Deep AI’s RATify solution for AI development, validation, and monitoring. Bayer also added AI apps to its Calantic Digital Solutions marketplace, including Rad AI, Gleamer, Contextflow, AZmed, Lucida Medical, and others.
- AGFA’s RSNA Relationships: AGFA HealthCare announced several new relationships at RSNA 2024. First, the company showcased a partnership with CARPL.ai that expands AGFA’s RUBEE portfolio to give users access to AI algorithms on the CARPL platform. With RUBEE now powered by CARPL, AGFA enterprise imaging sites will get access to over 140 algorithms on the CARPL platform. Second, AGFA announced a collaboration with Rad AI to integrate their respective PACS and reporting technologies to deliver a seamless workflow experience to radiologists.
- deepc partners with Axon: AI platform company deepc signed a relationship with European teleradiology provider Axon Diagnostics to integrate its deepcOS platform with Axon’s radiology and pathology workflow. Axon operates a connectivity hub that connects regional and national networks, and deepcOS will give users access to over 70 AI solutions in a single, unified platform.
- Researchers Study AI for Pediatric Fractures: U.K. researchers launched a research study to test Gleamer’s BoneView AI solution for detecting pediatric fractures on X-rays. A team led by Susan Shelmerdine, MBBS, PhD, of Great Ormond Street Hospital will apply BoneView to pediatric radiographs across four body parts, and will evaluate the diagnostic performance of 40 healthcare providers with and without AI. The study is novel in that it will recruit readers across radiology, orthopedics, and emergency medicine to see if AI’s impact varies by specialty.
- FDA Clears New Koios Software: The FDA cleared version 3.6 of Koios Medical’s SmartUltrasound decision support software. The new version includes updates that boost the solution’s clinical accuracy (AUC=0.95) and better integration into clinical workflows. New features include enhanced imaging algorithms for better detail and accuracy, workflow tools that reduce image interpretation time, and better integration with ultrasound scanners and PACS workstations.
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AI-Driven Novice Heart Failure Screening
We hear a lot about AI’s potential to expand echocardiography to far more users and clinical settings, and a study using Us2.ai’s AI-automated echo analysis and reporting solution showed that echo AI might make novice-led heart failure screening possible.
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Rewriting Cancer: How AI Could Reimagine Cancer Screening
Find out how DeepHealth is empowering breakthroughs in lung cancer detection with AI-driven technology in the #RewritingCancer digital series, which explores innovative solutions for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
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