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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New technology aimed at improving the ability of doctors to read mammograms isn't living up to expectations.
Researchers find computer-aided mammography is no better at identifying breast cancers than the old fashioned method where radiologists read the screenings without the help of a computer program.
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What's more, it may even be worse. Results also show more women end up being called back for further testing and undergoing unnecessary biopsies if their mammograms are read by the computer as well as by the doctor.
The study compared mammography outcomes for a large group of women who did or did not receive computer-aided scans. Results showed accuracy of the interpretations actually declined after facilities introduced computer-aided mammography and the biopsy rate rose by nearly 20 percent -- even though the rate of cancer diagnosis remained about the same.
The authors note computer-aided mammography has grown by leaps and bounds since it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1998 and Medicare agreed to pay for the test. These results, they continue, suggest a need to reevaluate the situation.
"Now that computer-aided detection is used in the screening of millions of healthy women, larger studies are needed to judge more precisely whether benefits of routine use of computer-aided detection outweigh its harms," they write.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2007;356:1399-1409
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