State Legislative Initiatives Continue + New Research
New State Insurance Bills
State legislative initiatives for expanded coverage for breast imaging continue. This week’s bill introductions: Kansas SB409, New Jersey A1462, New Jersey A1945, New Jersey A2152, New Jersey A2775.
For details on existing state insurance laws, visit the DenseBreast-info.org MAP.
New Study
A large study led by Ariel S. Kniss, MD, PhD evaluated the impact of breast density on performance of screening mammography with combination digital 2D mammography and tomosynthesis (DBT) from over 300,000 digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) exams from over 111,000 women. All screening DBT exams were performed from January 2013 to June 2019 at one institution. Density was categorized using visual BI-RADS categories (A, almost entirely fatty, B, scattered areas of fibroglandular density, C, heterogeneous dense tissue, or D extremely dense tissue).
- Sensitivity of screening DBT decreased with increasing density1
- Specificity of screening DBT was lower in women with category D density than those with category A, B, or C, respectively. 2
Performance of screening DBT decreases with increasing breast density, reinforcing the importance of supplemental screening considerations in women with dense breasts, even when DBT is used for screening mammography.
1 Sensitivities were 92.8%, 90.1%, 81.0%, and 61.8% for categories A, B, C, and D, respectively (P < 0.001 for category D vs. A, B, or C, respectively).
2 Specificities were 96.7%, 94.4%, 92.5%, and 93.3% for categories A, B, C, and D (P < 0.001 for category D vs. A).