Digital Mammography Only Cost-Effective for Some Women

January 2, 2008 – Unless limited to women young in age or to women with dense breasts, digital mammography screening does not result in sufficient health gains to outweigh its increased cost, according to a study appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, conducted as part of the Digital Mammography Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST).

Studying over 42,000 women in the U.S. and Canada through the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), researchers found nonsignificant tendency toward better breast cancer detection with conventional film mammography in older women with nondense breasts, providing the conclusion that digital mammography screening for all age groups was not cost-effective.

DMIST is a research study sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute, studying both digital and coventional screen-film mammograms.

For more information: www.annals.org