Carole Mark |
Audio |
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Carole Mark |
Audio |
| A Computer
That Double Checks Mammograms
For Human Error Breast cancer is one of the few cancers that can be detected very early
and that's when it's the most treatable.
Maryellen Giger, Ph.D., Medical Physicist, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL: "Now it has been shown that when two radiologists are reading, that miss rate can be reduced and the sensitivity increased by fifteen percent." Most screening facilities aren't like the University of Chicago's Medical Center where radiologists read hundreds of X-rays each day. That's why the school spent 10 years developing a computer that double checks mammograms for human error. The computer finds abnormalities that are hidden by tissue and ones that are so faint on the X-ray, they are missed by radiologists. It detects them by comparing the shape of a woman's breasts. Maryellen Giger, Ph.D.: "Once done the computer presents the image on the screen with arrows pointing to suspicious areas of either microcalcifications or masses." The computer is similar to a spellcheck program. In early studies, doctors and computer together identified 92-percent of cancers. Christella Winn, Mammography Patient: "After having it and finding anything it would be due to the new technique that they have because I never examine myself for that." The computers should be available to other hospitals within a year. The mammography computers will cost around $150,000. If you would like more information, please contact:
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