Blog

Spanish Content
The DB-I website features a full suite of Spanish-language tools; check out the new/updated FAQs. We are also at work on a new Spanish patient video, details to come.

New Research
DB-I Medical Advisory Board member Dr. Jean Seely has new research published in the Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, Breast Density and Risk of Interval Cancers: The Effect of Annual Versus Biennial Screening Mammography Policies in Canada. The Canadian study showed that the interval cancer rate for women with dense breasts was 40-45% lower when women are screened every year compared with every 2 years.

Technology Tab: CEM and MBI
The DB-I website is under constant review by our Medical Advisory Board volunteers, and in current review is the Technology Tab content. News this week is that Contrast-Enhanced Mammography and MBI updated content is now live.

SBI Summer Series: Dense Breasts
DB-I’s Dr. Wendie Berg and JoAnn Pushkin participated in SBI’s Summer Series on the topic of dense breasts. In case you missed the discussion, click here.

Patient Fact Sheet
Already available in more than 20 languages, DB-I’s downloadable Patient Fact Sheet is now available in Arabic.  Our thanks for translation assistance to Dr. Norran Hussein Said.

Patient Video Tools
A reminder that DB-I’s YouTube channel houses two patient video series for use as clinical or patient resources:

• Let’s Talk About Dense Breasts  – a 3-part educational series covering topics: “What is Breast Density?”, “Why Does Breast Density Matter?”, and “Is My Mammogram Enough?”
• Dense Breast Diaries – individual survivor story videos about the screening implications of dense breast tissue

SBI Summer Series
DB-I’s Dr. Wendie Berg and JoAnn Pushkin will participate in SBI’s Summer Series discussion on the topic of dense breasts. Please join on July 14^th, 7pm/eastern.

U.S. “Inform”/Insurance Legislation Map
Updates to breast imaging insurance laws in Louisiana and Texas have been added to DB-I Legislation Tab’s map and legislation table.

European Screening Guidelines Map
Breast screening information for the Republic of Ireland is now included in the European Screening Guidelines map and table.

ACR/SBI: Screening Guidelines
ACR/SBI updated screening guidelines are just out, Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations Inclusive of All Women at Average Risk. The guidelines do address the benefit of screening beginning at age 40, “…which provides the greatest mortality reduction, diagnosis at earlier stage, better surgical options, and more effective chemotherapy” and the benefit of annual screening “which results in more screening-detected tumors, tumors of smaller sizes, and fewer interval cancers than longer screening intervals.”

Medical Advisory Board
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Carrie Hruska! Dr. Hruska is a Professor of Medical Physics at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Her research has focused on developing and evaluating imaging technology for improved breast cancer detection. She is a Principal Investigator of the Density MATTERS trial, which is comparing the efficacy of molecular breast imaging and tomosynthesis for screening women with dense breasts. Dr. Hruska is also leading studies to probe how features seen on imaging exams, including mammographic density and uptake of contrast agents, may provide personalized information about a woman’s breast cancer risk.

We thank the following societies for sharing DB-I’s new CME/CE course, Dense Breasts and Supplemental Screening, with their members:

• Canada / Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists (CAMRT
  The course is featured within the CAMRT catalogue, https://repository.camrt.ca/browse-catalogues/.
• Europe / The Society of Radiographers (SoR)
  SoR features the DB-I website resource and CME/CE info within their Mammography Resource section

NEWS: Free CME/CE Course Launched

DB-I has launched its second-generation CME/CE program, Dense Breasts and Supplemental Screening (press release here).

• The course has been developed for primary care healthcare providers who refer women to breast screening, including family medicine, internal medicine, and OB/GYN physicians and midlevel providers, as well as radiologists, and radiologic technologists.
• To encourage participation, the course will now be free.
• The course has been designated for 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 credits or 1.5 ASRT Category A credits.

European Screening Guidelines by Country
Screening information for Slovenia is now included in the European Screening Guidelines map and table.

National breast screening programs for women of average risk are offered in nearly all European countries, and opportunistic mammography exists in some countries either as the sole screening system or in addition to the national breast screening program. For information about individual country screening guidelines, visit DB-I’s European Screening Guidelines. It includes information on the screening process, screening technologies, breast density notification, payment/reimbursement and high-risk screening by country.

• NEW: Screening guideline information for Hungary is now included in both the map and table content.

With thanks to Prof. Ádám László and Dr. Dora Boker for their assistance with content.

Website News
We have been busy!  We have new/updated content on the following:

• Within the Technology Tab, MBI content
• Question #1 in both the Patient and Health Provider FAQs, “What are dense breasts?”,  has been updated with new content and new images.
• Within the Legislation Tab, amendments to insurance laws in the states of Arkansas and Connecticut have been added to DBI’s map and legislation table.

ACOG Webinar: Revisit the Visit
Obstetrician-gynecologists must be comfortable with breast and ovarian cancer risk assessment to stratify their patients’ risk and manage risk according to risk category.

Learn more from DB-I Medical Advisory Board member, Dr. Elizabeth Etkin-Kramer, OB/GN, in the webinar Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Assessment,  part of the ACOG series Revisit the Visit.

Health Care FAQ Update
The update to Health Care FAQ #6, “How does breast density compare to other risk factors for developing invasive breast cancer?”  includes information/citations about the relative risk for breast cancer after prior DCIS.

New Article
Impact of Breast Density on Breast Cancer Risk Stratification by DB-I Medical Advisor, Dr. Stamatia Destounis, is now out in the current issue of Diagnostic Imaging Europe.

Medical Advisory Board, New Member
We welcome a new member! Linda Hovanessian Larsen, M.D., is Chief of Breast Imaging and Vice Chair of Professional Development at USC Keck School of Medicine Department of Radiology (DOR). Dr. Larsen oversees the Norris Breast Center, Verdugo Hills Breast Center, and LAC+USC County Mammography programs. She has served on administrative and clinical committees for the DOR and has spearheaded many of the Breast Imaging research projects, including incorporating the USC DOR into the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN). Dr. Larsen’s main area of research concentrates on innovative breast imaging techniques, including digital breast tomosynthesis, automated whole breast ultrasound, and contrast enhanced breast ultrasound.

• RAD Magazine is a leading journal for medical imaging, radiotherapy and oncology professionals. Please enjoy a new article in this month’s edition, Using Education to Inform Breast Density Conversations, authored by DB-I’s Dr. Athina Vourtsis and European Education Coordinator, Cheryl Cruwys.
• The U.K.’s  Society of Radiographers (SoR) now joins many other European groups sharing/linking to DenseBreast-info.org education resources for members.

To kick off Women’s Health Week and in honor of Mother’s Day, look for our week-long social media series #KnowBeforeYouGo. It will feature posts highlighting topics women should be aware of about breast density and mammograms. Posts begin on May 9^th, please feel free to repost (follow on DB-I Twitter and Facebook page).

Patient Fact Sheet
DB-I’s Patient Fact Sheet is now available in Vietnamese! It joins our Asian-language downloadable patient tools in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.  With thanks for translation assistance to Dr. Quy Pham Nguyen, MD, Kyoto Miniren Central Hospital, Founder of Y học cộng đồng; Dr. Ho Hoang Thao Quyen, Breast Radiologist; and Ms. Hoang Thu Ha, Breast Care Patient Advocate.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria
The College of Radiology has released new and updated ACR Appropriateness Criteria. Updated topics include Supplemental Breast Cancer Screening Based on Breast Density.

DB-I Research on Referring Provider Knowledge Gaps
DB-I’s second research project, “Effect of an educational intervention on women’s healthcare provider knowledge gaps about breast density, breast cancer risk, and screening” has just been published in Menopause journal. The study identified important knowledge gaps about implications of breast density among women’s healthcare providers and showed that these deficiencies can be effectively addressed with web-based education. For a research summary and video, please visit the “DB-I Research” website page or enjoy the Press Release.

This is the second of two research studies conducted by DB-I to address knowledge gaps among women’s health providers regarding breast density, breast cancer risk assessment, and breast cancer screening.  Results of the first research study, conducted in radiologists and radiologic technologists, were published in the Journal of Breast Imaging in July 2020.

Medical Advisory Board, New Member
We’re growing! Welcome to new member Dr. Marcela Böhm-Vélez whose areas of expertise include breast imaging, gynecological, obstetrical, interventional and vascular ultrasound (US). She has published a book and authored several chapters and numerous scientific papers that are used as reference materials in medical practice. She has lectured nationally and internationally. She is a Fellow for the American College of Radiology (ACR), Society of Radiologist in Ultrasound (SRU) and American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine (AIUM). She was a participant in the ultrasound and mammography accreditation process for the ACR.  She has served as chair of many ACR Practice Parameters, the initial ACR’s Appropriateness Criteria Expert Panel on Women’s Imaging. She has served in multiple committees and is past President of the Pennsylvania Radiological Society helping to pass legislation for women with dense breasts. Additionally, she was a member and co-writer of the 5th Edition ACR BI-RADS Atlas for Breast Ultrasound. She is President of Weinstein Imaging Associates, three premier women’s imaging centers in Pittsburgh, PA. She is on the Board of Trustees at WQED and a member of the Latino Community for Emergency Fund.

“Using Education to Inform Breast Density Conversations”
Authored by DB-I’s Dr. Athina Vourtsis and Cheryl Cruwys, look for this comprehensive article in the current hard-copy issue of UK’s RadMagazine. We will share the e-link as soon as available.

FAQ Spotlight
Did you know the health provider section features 52 FAQs? Here are a sample of those on supplemental screening:

• If 3D tomosynthesis is performed, will the patient also need a screening ultrasound or MRI?
• How do I identify women who are at higher risk who should have MRI?
• If recommended to have additional screening with ultrasound or MRI, will a patient need to have that every year?

#DenseBreastDiaries Video Series
Patient stories about the real-life screening and risk implications of dense tissue are powerful awareness tools. Watch the latest episode as DB-I Executive Director JoAnn Pushkin shares her experience of a missed cancer and why she’s passionate about patient “inform” on the implications associated with dense breasts.

Reminder: DB-I’s screening support flow chart Who Needs More Screening? (European visitors here) was developed as an educational tool and reflects the consensus opinion of our medical reviewers based on the best available evidence.

MAB News
Congratulations to DB-I Medical Advisory Board members Drs. Gordon, Conant, and Margolies on their election to the SBI proposed slate of Officers and Directors!

#DenseBreastDiaries
We have launched social media campaign #DenseBreastDiaries. Patient stories about the very-real-life screening and risk implications of dense tissue are powerful “get-educated” incentives. We are featuring patient-story video snippets and will be releasing one every two weeks. Once posted, the videos are available HERE.

Reminder: DB-I Abstract
Look for DB-I’s abstract, “Referring Healthcare Provider Knowledge Gaps about Breast Cancer Risk Model Use and High-Risk Screening Recommendations,” at the 2021 SBI/ACR Breast Imaging Virtual Symposium. The abstract will be featured in the virtual e-Poster Gallery which can be accessed directly from the Symposium website.