{"title":"Imaging for breast pain: A useful paradigm to promote breast cancer screening and reduce unnecessary breast imaging","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.clinimag.2024.110253","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><p>Identify the proportion of patients presenting for diagnostic breast imaging with clinically insignificant breast pain who are eligible for screening mammography and analyze the impact of routing these patients to screening on resource utilization, healthcare spending and cancer detection.</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>We retrospectively reviewed 100 consecutive women ≥40 years old without a history of breast cancer who underwent diagnostic mammogram and breast ultrasound for clinically insignificant breast pain from 1/2022 to 4/2022. Patients were screen-eligible if their last bilateral mammogram was over 12 months prior to presentation. Patients with only screening views during diagnostic mammography were assumed to have a negative/benign screening mammogram. Costs were calculated using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Physician Fee Schedule.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>68 of 100 patients with breast pain were screen-eligible at time of diagnostic imaging. With a screen first approach, 47/68 would have had negative/benign screening mammograms, allowing for the availability of 47 diagnostic breast imaging appointments. The current workflow led to 100 diagnostic mammograms and ultrasounds, 29 follow-up ultrasounds, and 10 image-guided biopsies, with a total cost of $42,872.41. With a screen first approach, there would have been 68 screening mammograms, 53 diagnostic mammograms and ultrasounds, 10 follow-up ultrasounds, and 9 image-guided biopsies, with a total cost of $34,231.60. Two cancers were identified, both associated with suspicious mammographic findings. None would have been missed in a screen-first approach.</p></div><div><h3>Discussion</h3><p>Identifying screen-eligible patients with clinically insignificant breast pain and routing them to screening mammogram improves radiology resource allocation and decreases healthcare spending without missing any cancers.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":50680,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Imaging","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899707124001839/pdfft?md5=70981d55587708a379d2c7c978f618ea&pid=1-s2.0-S0899707124001839-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Clinical Imaging","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899707124001839","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"RADIOLOGY, NUCLEAR MEDICINE & MEDICAL IMAGING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective
Identify the proportion of patients presenting for diagnostic breast imaging with clinically insignificant breast pain who are eligible for screening mammography and analyze the impact of routing these patients to screening on resource utilization, healthcare spending and cancer detection.
Methods
We retrospectively reviewed 100 consecutive women ≥40 years old without a history of breast cancer who underwent diagnostic mammogram and breast ultrasound for clinically insignificant breast pain from 1/2022 to 4/2022. Patients were screen-eligible if their last bilateral mammogram was over 12 months prior to presentation. Patients with only screening views during diagnostic mammography were assumed to have a negative/benign screening mammogram. Costs were calculated using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Physician Fee Schedule.
Results
68 of 100 patients with breast pain were screen-eligible at time of diagnostic imaging. With a screen first approach, 47/68 would have had negative/benign screening mammograms, allowing for the availability of 47 diagnostic breast imaging appointments. The current workflow led to 100 diagnostic mammograms and ultrasounds, 29 follow-up ultrasounds, and 10 image-guided biopsies, with a total cost of $42,872.41. With a screen first approach, there would have been 68 screening mammograms, 53 diagnostic mammograms and ultrasounds, 10 follow-up ultrasounds, and 9 image-guided biopsies, with a total cost of $34,231.60. Two cancers were identified, both associated with suspicious mammographic findings. None would have been missed in a screen-first approach.
Discussion
Identifying screen-eligible patients with clinically insignificant breast pain and routing them to screening mammogram improves radiology resource allocation and decreases healthcare spending without missing any cancers.
期刊介绍:
The mission of Clinical Imaging is to publish, in a timely manner, the very best radiology research from the United States and around the world with special attention to the impact of medical imaging on patient care. The journal''s publications cover all imaging modalities, radiology issues related to patients, policy and practice improvements, and clinically-oriented imaging physics and informatics. The journal is a valuable resource for practicing radiologists, radiologists-in-training and other clinicians with an interest in imaging. Papers are carefully peer-reviewed and selected by our experienced subject editors who are leading experts spanning the range of imaging sub-specialties, which include:
-Body Imaging-
Breast Imaging-
Cardiothoracic Imaging-
Imaging Physics and Informatics-
Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine-
Musculoskeletal and Emergency Imaging-
Neuroradiology-
Practice, Policy & Education-
Pediatric Imaging-
Vascular and Interventional Radiology