Fwd: COMPUTER-AIDED DETECTION REDUCES THE ACCURACY OF MAMMOGRAMS

April 5, 2007

Hi All-

I thought you might find this interesting, from the National Institutes of

Health.

" NIH OLIB (NIH/OD) " <olib wrote: Thu, 5 Apr 2007

08:16:06 -0400

" NIH OLIB (NIH/OD) " <olib

COMPUTER-AIDED DETECTION REDUCES THE ACCURACY OF MAMMOGRAMS

NIHPRESS

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

NIH News

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, April 4, 2007, 5:00 p.m. EDT

CONTACT: Claudia Morain, UC Davis Cancer Center, 916-734-9023, ; NCI Office of

Media Relations, 301-496-6641,

COMPUTER-AIDED DETECTION REDUCES THE ACCURACY OF MAMMOGRAMS

Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) that uses software designed to improve how

radiologists interpret mammograms may instead make readings less accurate,

according to new research. Use of CAD did not clearly improve the detection of

breast cancer. The research was conducted by investigators at the University of

California Davis Health System, Sacramento, Calif., and colleagues in the Breast

Cancer Surveillance Consortium, which is sponsored by the National Cancer

Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

The results of the study show that women who got screening mammograms at centers

using CAD devices were more likely to be told their mammogram was abnormal and

thus undergo a biopsy to rule out breast cancer. Findings appear in the April

5, 2007 issue of the " New England Journal of Medicine " and were funded by NCI,

the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the American Cancer Society.

CAD software analyzes the mammogram image and marks suspicious areas for

radiologists to review, thus assisting them in determining which images could

lead to in serious tumors. CAD was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration in 1998 and has been incorporated into many mammography imaging

practices, but its effect on the accuracy of interpretation has been unclear.

" This study points out the need for the use of other techniques to find cancer

at its earliest stages. NCI is incorporating techniques for imaging at the

molecular level into many of its studies and is also conducting studies to

improve the use of CAD and conventional mammography, " said John E. Niederhuber,

M.D., NCI Director. " In the end, technology facilitates screening. Ultimately,

treatment requires radiologists working with the examining physician and the

responsible surgeon to put everything together. We worry about false positives,

but we certainly don't want to miss any cancers, either. "

Investigators looked at the use of screening mammography in 222,135 women who

had 429,345 mammograms. The period of observation was from 1998 through 2002

and took place at 43 facilities in Colorado, New Hampshire, and Washington

states. The study included 2,351 women who received a diagnosis of breast

cancer within one year after screening and also received a mammogram that did or

did not use CAD.

" Within three years of FDA approval, 10 percent of the mammography facilities in

the country were using CAD, " said lead researcher Joshua J. Fenton, M.D., UC

Davis Health System. " There had been no large-scale community-based review of

CAD efficacy despite the rapid adoption of this technology so we did this study

to see if CAD was proving to be beneficial. "

Seven facilities, representing 16 percent of the study sites, implemented

computer-aided detection during the study period. With the use of CAD, 32

percent more women were recalled for more tests and 20 percent more women had a

breast biopsy. Use of the software had no clear impact on the early detection

of breast cancer. The study suggests that, if anything, the software may

promote the detection of the least dangerous breast cancers, such as localized,

in situ breast cancers. The effect of in situ cancers on breast cancer mortality

remains unknown and some evidence suggests that not all develop into serious

cancers.

Every time the CAD software marks a real cancer, a radiologist has to consider

about 2,000 additional false-positive marks, making it very difficult to

distinguish between real cancers and those that are not cancer. The authors

estimate that for every additional woman diagnosed with breast cancer on the

basis of CAD, 156 women are falsely recalled for more tests and 14 had

unnecessary biopsies to exclude cancer.

" It's unfortunate that the use of the software has proliferated so widely before

we are certain of its benefits, " said Fenton. " We need studies to determine if

the benefits of the software outweigh its harms and costs. There is also the

potential for new studies to improve the performance of CAD software. "

The authors estimate that if all mammography facilities adopt CAD, the annual

cost of mammograms in the United States could increase 18 percent, or an

additional $550 million nationwide.

For a Q & A on this finding, please go to .

For more information about cancer, visit , or call NCI's Cancer Information

Service at 1-800-4 CANCER.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency

-- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department

of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting

and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it

investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare

diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit .

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REFERENCE: Fenton JJ, Taplin SH, et al. Influence of Computer-Aided Detection

on Performance of Screening Mammography. " NEJM " , Vol. 356, No. 14. April 5,

2007.

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