Evaluation of new imaging procedures for breast cancer: proper process.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S H Fox.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A computerized system for the quantitative comparison of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel autoradiographs is being developed that requires relatively limited hardware resources. Two fast, simple, and stable programs--one for background and streak subtraction and one for peak detection--have been developed and tested. Two methods developed by others--one for image smoothing and one for peak matching--also have been tested. A very simple spot-density integration program that works on isolated spots has been written and is being developed further.
Liquid-crystal thermography (LCT) was assessed as a means of detecting proliferative disorders of the breast independently of other clinical or radiological data. There was no statistically significant difference between positive diagnosis rates for LCT of the breast in biopsy-proved proliferative disorders and in clinically and radiologically normal volunteers. While this experiment was not designed to evaluate LCT for detection or diagnosis of advanced, clinically occult, or minimal breast cancer, the data suggest that this technique can identify some large, bulky tumors, and that the smaller the lesion, the less likely that it would be detected by LCT.
It is estimated that mammographic and physical examination (PE) screening would cost $3,866 per person year gained; screening with PE alone would cost $4,550. Sixty thousand person years are gained with combined screening, and 24,000 with PE alone per million women screened. The cost per cancer found is $9,046; for each highly curable cancer $26,961, and for each death averted $61,100. An estimated 16 years are added to each life saved. The cost per patient screening examination, using all techniques, is $20.04.
Based on the results of aggressive screening of 20,000 women and an annual average midbreast absorbed dose of 1 rad per year, the authors describe a model for estimating the benefit/risk ratio for mammography in screening populations of asymptomatic, randomly selected women. Benefits in terms of breast-cancer deaths averted over not screening are estimated. The "worst-case" estimate of the benefit/risk ratio for five annual mammographic examinations on randomly selected asymptomatic women age 35-49 at the start of screening is 3.4 +/- 1.1 to 1. The corresponding "most probable" estimate is 8.0 +/- 3.1 to 1.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
As part of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Questionnaire administered in the 1985 National Health Interview Survey, nearly 20,000 respondents ages 18-44 answered questions about their awareness of the risks of smoking and heavy drinking during pregnancy. In reference to smoking, interviewers asked about miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, and low birth weight; in reference to heavy drinking, they asked about miscarriage, mental retardation, low birth weight, and birth defects, as well as fetal alcohol syndrome. For each of these adverse outcomes, a majority of subjects acknowledged increased risk because of smoking or heavy drinking during pregnancy. The range was 66-80 percent of respondents for the four questions on smoking, with the perceived association to smoking strongest for low birth weight. Approximately 84 percent of respondents associated heavy drinking with increased risk for each of the suggested pregnancy outcomes. Smoking seemed to be perceived to pose a lesser risk to pregnancy than heavy drinking. This relative lack of awareness of the pregnancy risks of smoking was more apparent among respondents with less education and more pronounced among blacks than whites. Women were more likely than men to express some opinion on these pregnancy-related questions and were more cognizant than men of the risks. On this limited survey, Americans ages 18-44 were not very knowledgeable about fetal alcohol syndrome. Among the 55 percent who had heard of fetal alcohol syndrome, fewer than one in four correctly identified it as a set of birth defects when offered three possible definitions. It will be interesting to correlate responses to these "knowledge" questions with NHIS data still forthcoming on reported actual smoking and drinking behavior among women respondents who were recently pregnant.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.