|
Mammography Use Falls, ACC Imaging News, and Ultrasound Breakthrough
March 30, 2026
|
|
|
|
|
Together with
|
|
|
|
“Many radiology AI solutions fail. Not because the model was wrong. Because nobody asked the radiologist.”
|
|
Woojin Kim, MD.
|
|
|
|
Mammography use fell after the USPSTF rescinded its recommendation in 2009 of routine breast cancer screening for women in their 40s. The findings, in a new study in JAMA Network Open, confirm the fears of many women’s health advocates following the guideline change.
The women’s health world was shocked in 2009 when the USPSTF pulled its guideline advising women aged 40 to 49 to undergo regular breast screening, instead telling them to consult with their physicians.
- The group reversed course in 2024, stating that women in their 40s should be screened every two years. Driving the decision were rising cancer rates in younger women, as well as higher mortality rates among Black women.
The new study analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to find changes in mammography use among 2.6M women, divided into various groups based on age, race, and other demographics.
- Researchers analyzed self-reported mammography use, focusing on the periods 2000-2008 and 2012 and 2022.
The researchers found that, comparing 2002 to 2022, mammography prevalence fell for…
- Women aged 40 to 49 (from 70% to 59%).
- Women aged 50 to 74 (from 81% to 77%).
- Non-Hispanic Black women in their 40s (from 72% to 65%).
The researchers pointed out that for the above categories, the endpoint comparisons were statistically significant.
- But the year-to-year changes in intervening years were not, in particular given a change in BRFSS survey methodology in 2011 that appears to have led to a several-point drop in utilization.
But several subgroups of women saw changes in both endpoint and year-to-year mammography prevalence, with use falling among…
- Non-Hispanic White women in their 40s (from 71% to 60%).
- Women in their 40s with insurance (from 74% to 62%) and without (from 47% to 33%).
- Employed women (from 72% to 61%) as well as in women who classified themselves as homemakers (65% to 55%).
The Takeaway
The new study on falling mammography utilization confirms the fears of many women’s health advocates about the impact of the USPSTF’s 2009 guideline change. While the group righted the ship in 2024, it could take many years to see an effect – as suggested by the new study.
|
|
A Global Customer Reach
Mach7 Technologies serves a diverse range of healthcare organizations worldwide, from large integrated delivery networks to smaller community hospitals and imaging centers. Learn what Mach7 can do for you.
|
|
Low Dose, Remarkably Open Design
The Scenaria View CT scanner from Fujifilm Healthcare Americas is a powerful premium CT solution that provides dependable routine application capabilities, including coronary artery imaging with the Focus Edition’s optional Cardio StillShot 3D motion correction technology.
|
|
Plan Your Radiology Reporting Transition
Many radiology organizations are facing a new challenge: planning for a full reporting system transition. Check out this on-demand webinar hosted by Rad AI to learn how to position your organization for the next decade of radiology reporting technology.
|
|
- Who Should Read CCTA Scans? Who’s better at interpreting coronary CT angiography scans – radiologists or cardiologists? In a study presented at ACC 2026, researchers tracked outcomes for 303k patients who got CCTA scans from 2018 to 2022. There was no statistically significant difference in rates of major adverse cardiovascular events, but cardiologists had higher follow-up rates of fractional flow reserve CT, invasive angiography, and percutaneous coronary intervention (HR = 1.56, 1.55, and 1.48, respectively). Higher reader volume was associated with lower PCI and MACE risk (HR = 0.88).
- Cardiac Imaging Dose Higher in Africa: Previous studies have found that radiation dose from imaging exams in developing countries is often much higher than in developed nations. A study presented at ACC 2026 found that average dose in Africa was shockingly high for coronary CT angiography compared to non-African countries (26 mSv vs. 6.6 mSv), and a higher percentage of African patients were scanned with older CT systems (45% vs. 16%). And if newer CT scanners were used, dose was no lower, unlike other countries.
- Echo AI Predicts Cardiac Amyloidosis Survival: In another talk at ACC 2026, researchers found that Us2.ai’s echocardiography AI algorithm predicted which cardiac amyloidosis patients had better odds of survival. In 649 patients who got a single apical four-chamber transthoracic echocardiogram, those with the lowest Us2.ai CA scores – indicating likelihood of less severe disease – had better survival odds (HR = 0.59). The findings indicate that the Us2.ai algorithm can provide not only diagnostic but also prognostic information about cardiac amyloidosis.
- CAC Guides Statin Treatment: CT-derived coronary artery calcium scores were used to guide lipid-lowering statin therapy in another ACC 2026 paper. Researchers calculated five-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease event rates in 5.9k people from the MESA study, finding that, compared to people with CAC scores of 0, hazard rates for ASCVD events rose with CAC scores, to a high of HR = 6.4 for scores over 300. At that CAC level, the five-year number needed to treat at a 20% relative risk reduction was just 19 patients.
- Philips AI Guides Valve Repair Devices: Philips received FDA clearance for AI-powered software that tracks and visualizes mitral valve repair devices during minimally invasive interventional cardiology procedures. EchoNavigator 5.0 with DeviceGuide tracks mitral valve repair devices from Edwards Lifesciences during transcatheter procedures guided by Philips’ EchoNavigator technology, which fuses echocardiography and angiography images on a single screen. Philips and Edwards worked together in developing DeviceGuide, which Philips highlighted at ACC 2026.
- Angio FFR Works Well for Guiding PCI: Calculating fractional flow reserve from angiography images using CathWorks’ FFRangio software worked as well as pressure-wire FFR for guiding percutaneous coronary interventions. In a new study in NEJM, researchers in the ALL-RISE trial tested both approaches in 1.9k patients, finding that after one year the FFRangio group had slightly lower rates of cardiac events like death or myocardial infarction (6.9% vs. 7.1%). The findings could spur increased use of angiography-guided FFR, which is less cumbersome than the pressure-wire technique.
- PET vs. SPECT for Downstream Cardiac Procedures: Cardiac PET may be more expensive than SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging, but PET resulted in fewer downstream procedures in a paper presented at ACC 2026. Among 942k patients, PET produced fewer referrals to invasive coronary angiography (6% vs. 6.8%) and had higher yield for percutaneous coronary intervention (0.9% vs. 0.4%). Men got more angiography referrals and underwent more PCI procedures than women for PET (7.2% vs. 5.4%) and SPECT (7.1% vs. 5.6%).
- AI CAC Analysis for Heart Failure: In a study presented at ACC 2026, HeartLung.AI’s AI-CVD software was used to predict heart failure using data extracted from coronary artery calcium scans in 6.7k patients. The algorithm’s AI-CVD-HF scores had a higher AUC for predicting heart failure at 10 years than the PREVENT-HF risk prediction tool (AUC = 0.84 vs. 0.79), and adding AI-CVD-HF to PREVENT-HF boosted AUC to 0.85. The study shows CAC scans have value beyond just predicting coronary artery disease.
- AI Plaque Analysis Predicts Adverse Heart Events: Quantitative AI-based coronary plaque analysis predicted risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in a study presented at ACC 2026. Researchers used Heartflow’s AI-QCPA technique to analyze coronary CT angiography scans of 15.1k patients, finding that MACE risk increased with total plaque volume levels. Those with the highest TPV (>750 mm3) had nearly 4X higher risk of MACE (HR = 3.9).
- Cleerly Highlights at ACC 2026: Among the ACC 2026 highlights for Cleerly was a new workflow-support enhancement tool called Preview that’s designed to help clinicians prioritize cases and streamline administrative processes like prior authorization. On the research side, Cleerly highlighted a pair of CONFIRM 2 studies, one in which its AI-QCT technology quantified percent atheroma volume as a measure of plaque burden to guide revascularization procedures, and another in which AI-QCT stratified risk for major cardiovascular events in patients with and without diabetes.
- Active Surveillance for DCIS: Is active surveillance rather than surgical excision a good option for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ detected on screening mammography? Early results from the LORD trial in the Netherlands were presented last week from 1.4k patients with low-risk DCIS. Researchers say their trial supports surveillance, which had a lower invasive cancer rate compared to surgical excision (6% vs. 9%). But tumors in the active surveillance arm were larger (9 vs. 6 mm), and enough patients developed invasive cancer that the study was stopped.
- 4DMedical Gets CE Mark for CT:VQ: 4DMedical received the CE mark for CT:VQ, the company’s solution for assessing pulmonary function using CT scans. The technology is designed to replace nuclear medicine scans for ventilation-perfusion studies with CT, which is more widely available and easier to perform. CT:VQ received FDA clearancelast year. Separately, 4DMedical received commitments from institutional investors for USD$57M in a private placement to fund its growth, particularly in Europe.
- JLK Scores FDA Nod for Brain CT AI: South Korean AI developer JLK received FDA clearance for its AI algorithm to analyze non-contrast CT scans for signs of stroke. JLK-NCCT is intended to detect intracerebral hemorrhage while identifying patients with large-vessel occlusion, and enables non-contrast CT to be used to detect LVO without requiring patients to be sent on for CT angiography. The clearance is the latest for JLK, which has received a number of marketing authorizations in 2024 and 2025 for its AI algorithms.
- GE Extends Stanford Relationship: GE HealthCare extended its research collaboration with Stanford University with the goal of establishing a center of excellence to pursue research into MRI, CT, molecular imaging, and artificial intelligence. Stanford will continue working with GE on photon-counting CT technology like the company’s recently cleared Photonova Spectra scanner, and will also collaborate in developing a new total-body PET/CT system.
- Ultrasound AI Gets Breakthrough Nod: The FDA granted Breakthrough Device Designation to a prenatal AI ultrasound guidance platform developed by DeepEcho. The company’s Blind Sweep Platform guides users through acquisition of B-mode ultrasound scans, automating the acquisition of measurements like fetal presentation, placental location, and gestational age. DeepEcho will continue working with the FDA on regulatory authorization for the software, which would follow on a prenatal ultrasound algorithm the FDA cleared last year.
|
|
Interpretation Efficiency in Radiology – A Critical Strategy
Healthcare institutions are at a critical stage, where an emphasis on interpretation efficiency needs to be a priority. Check out this white paper from Visage Imaging and Signify Research on strategies to optimize your interpretation efficiency.
|
|
Tackling Radiology’s Capacity Issue
Healthcare providers are under pressure from rising costs, care delays, and growing cybersecurity risks. Watch this video to discover how Mosaic Clinical Technologies delivers a future-ready imaging solution that improves continuity of care and accelerates detection for faster, more appropriate interventions.
|
|
How AI Is Redefining Data Migration
Enlitic’s Migratek data migration services – combined with AI-enabled ENDEX data standardization – is changing the game for data migration projects. Discover how it can benefit you in this article.
|
|
- It’s Time to Make AI Adoption Simple: Gleamer unifies a fragmented AI landscape into a single, simple, powerful platform with GleamerOS. Discover an AI ecosystem where everything is designed to be intuitive, consistent, and scalable, making AI adoption simpler than ever.
- A Best in KLAS Hat Trick: AGFA HealthCare was named Best in KLAS in three enterprise imaging segments this year: PACS under 300k studies, universal viewer, and vendor-neutral archive. Find out what makes customers keep coming back on this page.
- Digital Radiography Designed for Freedom: United Imaging’s new uDR Aurora CX digital radiography system was designed to give you unprecedented freedom in imaging patients thanks to its new advances in computer vision, automation, and AI diagnostics.
- A New Solution for Detecting Cardiac Amyloidosis: Us2.ai’s latest AI echo copilot software now includes a feature for detecting cardiac amyloidosis. This new capability has received FDA clearance the CE mark in Europe, officially authorizing its clinical use in hospitals and healthcare settings worldwide.
- Leveraging Automation for Image Exchange: Southwest Medical Imaging (SMIL) is a premier physician-owned radiology practice in the southwestern U.S. Discover how they partnered with Medicom to automate image exchange through their user-friendly AI-powered Medicom Connect platform.
- Mastering Enterprise Imaging in the Cloud: Reserve your seat at this March 31 webinar hosted by Merge and SIIM to learn how VNAs serve as the backbone of enterprise imaging and cloud strategies by enabling seamless data orchestration, accessibility, and management across diverse systems and modalities.
- Radiology Case Report: A man in his 40s presented with a known metastasis within his abdomen. Learn how contrast-enhanced MRI helped to diagnose the extent of his disease.
- Rapid AI Deployment in Emergency Care: University Hospitals used CARPL to deploy AZmed’s fracture detection tool directly in the emergency department, reducing interpretation time by 30% without disrupting workflows. Learn how UH accelerated AI deployment.
- A Next-Generation Oncology Ecosystem: Quibim launched their next-generation oncology ecosystem platform at RSNA 2025. Find out how QP-Prostate provides a comprehensive, end-to-end management workflow for prostate cancer care, supporting clinicians from the earliest stages of image acquisition through diagnosis, patient management, and follow-up.
- A New Solution for Radiology Reporting: Sectra Reporting delivers a fully built-in, AI-enhanced reporting experience that seamlessly connects PACS imaging data and measurements through intuitive templates. Discover how it can meet your needs today.
- Transform Your Workflow with Intelligent Imaging: Radiology departments face growing challenges: higher workloads, fewer staff, and tighter budgets. Discover how intelligent imaging technology from Siemens Healthineers streamlines processes, reduces stress, and improves outcomes. Access the white paper now and transform your workflow.
- Driving Efficiency in Radiology: Radiology’s workforce is under pressure. Discover evidence-based strategies for driving efficiency without burning out your staff in this e-book from Riverain Technologies.
- Cardiac CT Online Training Course: Medality’s online cardiac CT training course is designed for busy clinicians working towards Level 2 Cardiac CT certification. Endorsed by SCCT, it provides a flexible, practice-focused approach to develop your coronary CTA interpretation and reporting skills while earning CME.
- Remote Reading Is Essential for Enterprise Imaging: Remote reading has become essential to enterprise imaging operations because healthcare organizations need scalable, flexible solutions. Discover how cloud-based solutions from Intelerad can help solve remote reading challenges.
- Interventional Expertise Meets Spectral CT: Join Yader Sandoval and Rolf Raaijmakers in this on-demand webcast as they explore PCI best practices and how Philips spectral CT enhances cardiac clarity, enabling earlier diagnosis, greater confidence, and more personalized patient care.
- Elevating Breast Cancer Detection: Breast Suite from DeepHealth is a new package of AI-powered solutions delivering increased breast cancer detection rates, risk stratification tools, and viewing and reporting workflow acceleration. Find out how it can benefit your practice today.
|
|
|
|
|
