Breast Outrage

While Komen v. Planned Parenthood has us all fired up about access to breast cancer screening let's talk about the pathetic state of the actual screening technology.  Why is that in the 50 years mammography has been in use there's been no progress in improving the experience of having a mammogram and relatively little progress in improving the accuracy of detection? Perhaps more importantly, why is it that new and better technologies are ignored or left underfunded?

Molecular Breast Imaging or MBI (right) vs standard mammography (left): MBI doesn't require compression and is 3 times more accurate than regular mammography. Why has this new breast screening technology been buried?

Mammography is a relatively primitive technology. It is the only radiological study regulated by federal law, which requires the equivalent of a 40 pound car battery to be lowered onto the breast during the test. It is the most difficult radiological test to read, partly because breasts vary so greatly from woman to woman. Looking for a tumor is truly like searching for a needle with a blindfold in a haystack.

Molecular Breast Imaging is pain free (requiring 2/3 of the compression of standard mammograms) and significantly increases tumor detection accuracy (by as much as 300%.)

The so-called "revolution" of digital mammography does absoutely zero for eliminating the pain of the experience, and while it does increase the accuracy of diagnosis for women with low breast density, digital mammorgraphy only moderately improves accuracy (with a 60% detection rate) in detecting tumors in women with highly dense breasts (a full 2/3 of women in their forties) who are at a higher risk of developing aggressive breast tumors. The federal government invested $4 billion converting to digital mammography over the past decade, an incredible boon to digital mammogram manufacturers, but an exceedingly small advance for womens health. 

it's incredible when you compare the advances made in, say, smartphone technology versus mammography. What is even more mind-blowing is the fact that there is a better breast cancer screening technology --Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) using gamma rays, developed at the Mayo Clinic (spurred by Dr. Deborah Rhodes.) MBI is pain free (requiring 2/3 of the compression of standard mammograms) and significantly increases tumor detection accuracy (by as much as 300%.) This technology has met resistance in the radiological community, as Dr. Rhodes says, "The forces in breast imaging prefer the status quo.." Learn about this new technology by watching Dr. Rhodes TED talk below. And ponder with me why it is that we can't improve the experience and accuracy of breast cancer screening?