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Missing Breast Screening, Mammo Helps Older Women, and ASTRO Sneak Peek
September 25, 2025
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Together with
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“First mammography screening could be a crucial time point for prevention of adverse breast cancer outcomes. If early screening behaviour is predictive of later stage diagnosis and mortality risk, it could provide a valuable opportunity to identify populations at high risk decades before adverse outcomes occur.”
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Ma Z et al, in a new BMJ study on the importance of attending initial mammography screening exams.
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Missing a first breast cancer screening exam can be hazardous to your health. A new study in BMJ found that women who missed their first mammography screening had a 40% higher long-term risk of breast cancer death.
Mammography screening has been shown to prevent breast cancer deaths by detecting cancer earlier, when it can be treated more effectively.
- But breast screening adherence rates still aren’t as high as they should be, leaving women’s health advocates to wonder what they can do to spur better compliance.
In the new study, researchers investigated whether mammography compliance itself could be an early warning sign that women might not be taking screening seriously enough.
- They analyzed data on 433k women invited to the Swedish Mammography Screening Programme from 1991 to 2020 and correlated clinical outcomes over 25 years with whether or not patients completed their first screening exam (32% didn’t).
Compared to women who missed their first mammography appointment, women who followed through with their exam…
- Had a 40% lower risk of dying from breast cancer.
- Had lower breast cancer mortality rates per 1k women (7 vs. 9.9).
- Got nearly twice as many breast screenings over the study period (8.7 vs. 4.8 screenings).
- Had similar breast cancer incidence rates (7.8% vs. 7.6%), a sign that non-participation delayed detection rather than increased incidence.
What’s more, women who missed their first appointment were 32% more likely to have invasive cancer and had higher odds ratios for stage III and stage IV disease (OR = 1.53 and 3.61, respectively).
Researchers concluded that women who missed their first mammography appointment were also more likely to miss future ones – putting them at higher risk of breast cancer death.
- But a missed initial appointment also could serve as a warning to women’s health centers that these patients deserve extra attention, through tools as simple as more provider outreach or automatically scheduled second appointments.
The Takeaway
The new findings offer – yet again – more support for the effectiveness of population-based breast screening in reducing breast cancer deaths. What’s novel is that they show that non-participation is an early warning sign that could activate a slate of more aggressive outreach measures to bring these women in.
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Redefining Breast Imaging in the Enterprise Era
As breast imaging grows more complex, radiology teams need more than siloed tools. Watch this on-demand webinar hosted by AGFA HealthCare about transforming breast imaging workflows in the enterprise imaging era.
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AI-Empowered CT Workflow
CT systems from United Imaging are designed for high image quality and low dose, and their AI-empowered workflow enables fast and reproducible positioning, helping you image patients with confidence. Learn more on this page.
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Unlock Next-Generation AI with Foundation Models
Learn about Microsoft’s new family of cutting-edge multimodal medical imaging foundation models designed for healthcare organizations to test, fine-tune, and build tailored AI solutions specific to their needs, while minimizing extensive compute and data requirements.
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- Mammography Helps Older Women: Most breast screening guidelines don’t recommend mammography for women over 75, but a new study in Annals of Surgical Oncology suggests it could be a good idea. UCLA Health researchers tracked 174 women with a median age of 83, of whom 98 were screened. At 55 months of follow-up, screened women had better disease-free and overall survival (HR = 0.45 and 0.26, respectively), while unscreened women were more likely to have tumors that were palpable, high-grade, and advanced stage.
- MBI + DBT for Women with Dense Breasts: Molecular breast imaging is proposed as an adjunctive screening modality for women with dense breast tissue. In the Density MATTERS study in Radiology, researchers supplemented DBT with either SmartBreast’s Eve Clear Scan or CMR Naviscan’s LumaGEM MBI systems in 3k women with dense breasts from 2017 to 2022. After two rounds of combined screening, MBI + DBT had a 2.5X higher detection rate for invasive cancer than DBT alone (1.5% vs. 3.9%), although the recall rate rose somewhat (14% vs. 8.9%).
- ScreenPoint AI Chosen for PRISM Trial: ScreenPoint Medical’s Transpara AI solution was chosen for the PRISM study, a $16M randomized controlled trial evaluating AI’s role in breast cancer screening. PRISM will be led by researchers from UCLA and UC Davis and will include hundreds of thousands of mammograms acquired across the U.S. to assess AI’s impact on mammography accuracy and recalls. Aidoc’s aiOS platform will be used for workflow orchestration.
- Progress in the War on Cancer: A new report on worldwide cancer in The Lancet has encouraging news. While the number of cancer deaths will grow 74% by 2050, the increase will mostly be driven by population growth and aging, as the age-adjusted global cancer death rate fell 24% from 1990 to 2023. But rates of new cancer cases are rising in low- and middle-income countries, and 42% of global cancer deaths in 2023 were attributable to modifiable risk factors. Breast cancer remains the most-diagnosed cancer worldwide.
- Philips to Launch Scanners at ASTRO: Philips plans to launch new CT and MRI scanners optimized for radiation oncology at ASTRO 2025. In CT, Rembra RT and Areta RT support easier cancer treatment planning with wide 85cm extended fields of view, NanoPanel Precise XD detectors, and 4DCT capabilities. Both scanners are pending 510(k) clearance. In MRI, Philips is making the North American debut of the 1.5T BlueSeal RT system, a version of its helium-free MRI platform for radiation therapy planning and simulation.
- AI Industry Payments to Providers: A new study in JAMA tracks the medical AI industry’s payments to healthcare providers and hospitals, finding that such payments totaled $120M from 2017 to 2023. Cardiologists got the most money ($59M) with radiologists second at $40M, even though the FDA has authorized far more AI-enabled devices for radiology than cardiology (77% of total authorizations as of the last count). The payments raise the issue of physician conflict of interest as well as whether payments are being adequately disclosed.
- TeraRecon Touts Global Milestone: TeraRecon achieved a major milestone, surpassing 2k global customers for its advanced visualization solutions. The company’s recent success has been driven by its transformation to a cloud-first SaaS model that makes implementation easier throughout healthcare enterprises, eliminating the need for on-premises infrastructure. The company has also fine-tuned its commercial model with country-specific approaches in nations like the U.K., Germany, Italy, and Japan. TeraRecon also cited its 3DR Labs partnership as a factor behind its success.
- AI Reports Speed Chest X-Ray Turnaround: Radiologists using AI to help generate chest X-ray reports had 25% faster turnaround times in a new study in JACR. Researchers used the KARA-CXR generative AI model from South Korea’s Soombit.ai to create preliminary reports for 756 chest radiographs. Radiologist reading times fell with the algorithm (19 vs. 26 seconds), and report acceptability grew (60% vs. 55%), a sign radiologists grew more comfortable with AI output. The findings add fuel to the increasingly hot AI reporting segment.
- AI X-Ray Reports Found Acceptable: In a related study of KARA-CXR – this one in Radiology – thoracic radiologists found chest X-ray reports it generated to be acceptable. The algorithm generated reports for chest radiographs of 1.5k patients from the emergency department, and if minor revisions were allowed KARA-CXR’s output was judged as acceptable as radiologist-generated reports (88% vs. 89%), but if no revisions were allowed AI acceptability dipped (67% vs. 76%). AI report generation could be suitable in the emergency setting if revisions are allowed.
- Siemens Scores Big Hawaii Contract: Siemens Healthineers landed a contract to supply a full range of multimodality imaging equipment to Queen’s Health Systems, the largest private healthcare provider in Hawaii. The eight-year partnership covers CT, MRI, PET, SPECT, and X-ray systems across the six-hospital health network.
- 3DR Labs Acquires Strings: 3DR Labs acquired Strings, a healthcare IT firm that develops software for analyzing and optimizing radiology operations. Strings was co-founded by industry veteran Jef Williams as Paragon Health IT, and after initially focusing on consulting, the company in 2023 pivoted to offering software it developed to analyze radiology operations. The acquisition builds on a partnership between Strings and 3DR Labs announced earlier this year, and 3DR Labs will integrate Strings into its services to imaging facilities, which include image post-processing.
- Heartflow Gets New Plaque Analysis 510(k): Heartflow received 510(k) clearance for the latest version of its Heartflow Plaque Analysis AI algorithm, which diagnoses coronary artery disease from CCTA scans. The new version features an updated algorithm and includes 3D color-coded visual representation of plaque type, volume, and distribution. Plaque Analysis will also be covered by Cigna starting October 1 after the payor aligned its coverage policy for all plaque analysis solutions with guidelines issued by EviCore earlier this year.
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The Future of Teleradiology Starts Here
Is your radiology team ready for growing demand? Discover how Merge Imaging Suite for Teleradiology helps remote radiologists work faster, smarter, and more securely – 24/7.
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Streamlining Sonographer Workflows
Alaska Radiology Associates needed to streamline sonographer workflows, so they turned to SonoReview by Kailo Medical. Learn how the solution enhanced accuracy and saved valuable time for both radiologists and sonographers.
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- Remote vs. Tableside Fluoroscopy: Choosing the right fluoroscopy system is critical – download this e-book from Siemens Healthineers to discover key safety and efficiency factors that will help you decide between remote and tableside options.
- AI Innovations in Lung Disease: Check out this on-demand webcast to hear from Riverain Technologies and GE HealthCare executives as they discuss AI applications developed to detect lung nodules, in particular how AI can be integrated into PACS.
- Planning for Data Migration Success: When UCSF Health’s enterprise imaging team needed to bring two new hospitals into their network, a new data migration project was born. Watch this on-demand webinar to learn how UCSF ensured a successful migration by working with Laitek, an Enlitic company.
- Experience the Power of Workflow Orchestration: Mach7’s UnityVue Workflow Orchestration Platform is a groundbreaking new solution that creates a unified view of patient imaging data, speeding patient care delivery, creating more efficient workflows, and reducing radiologist stress. Experience the power of UnityVue for yourself.
- Revolutionizing 3D Imaging: Learn how Visage Imaging is revolutionizing 3D imaging for radiology with its Visage Ease VP solution for the Apple Vision Pro headset in this video with Steve Deaton, director of customer experience.
- The Transformative Role of AI in Radiology: In this episode of The Radiology Report podcast, Medality’s Daniel Arnold sits down with Dr. John Simon, who shares his insights into the transformative role of AI in radiology and its ability to enhance efficiency, improve patient care, and unlock new diagnostic possibilities.
- 2 Questions about AI for Radiology Leaders: Are today’s radiology AI solutions solving the right problems? And are there other solutions available for AI of brain MRI? Read this article from SpinTech MRI to learn how their STAGE solution can optimize MRI utilization.
- AI-Assisted Fracture Detection: Gleamer’s BoneView AI solution helped radiologists detect fractures on radiographs of both adults and children in a meta-analysis of eight studies. Discover how it can help your practice today.
- Mobile X-Ray Designed for Going Places: The Philips Radiography 7000 M mobile radiography system was designed for going places. Read how technologists at the University of Vermont Medical Center rely on its long battery life to go a whole shift without re-charging.
- A Bold Transformation in Client Experience: Intelerad is transforming how it supports customers and partners with clients through a company-wide Client Obsession initiative. The company is making investments in new tools, technologies, and staff to remove friction and deliver value – find out how it works on this page.
- AI-Powered Population Health: DeepHealth closed its acquisition of iCAD, a major step in DeepHealth’s vision to build the future of AI-powered population health. In this Imaging Wire Show, we talked to company executives Kees Wesdorp and Niccolo Stefani about the acquisition and their strategic roadmap.
- AI Echo in Cardiovascular Disease Management: AI is reshaping echocardiography, paving the way for greater diagnostic accuracy, improved workflow efficiency, and enhanced patient care. Read this article to learn how AI echo solutions like Us2.ai are changing the landscape of cardiovascular imaging.
- Presenting Unboxing AI: Check out CARPL’s video series, Unboxing AI, featuring experts discussing AI and its future in radiology. The next episode on September 25 features Ambika Seth of Lunit – reserve your seat today.
- New-generation Platform for Managing Multi-Omics Data: QP-Insights from Quibim is a new-generation advanced platform for the management, storage, and analysis of large-scale multi-omics data and medical images for clinical studies and research projects. Learn more on this page.
- AI-Empowered CT Workflow: CT systems from United Imaging are designed for high image quality and low dose, and their AI-empowered workflow enables fast and reproducible positioning, helping you image patients with confidence.
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