Concerned over a decline in facilities that screen for breast cancer, researchers are looking to the Internet for help.
“We’ve proven that telemammography works,” said Dr. Alan Melton, a researcher affiliated with Columbia University Medical Center, during a report at the recent meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago.
Working with more than 1,300 diagnostic screening mammogram X-ray images, Melton’s study demonstrated that digitized images transmitted 110 miles over Internet cable were identical to the originals.
Sending X-ray images as digitized information over great distances isn’t new. Physicians routinely do it to get opinions from specialists. Some radiologists in India read images sent from hospitals in the United States.
A study issued last year by the Institute of Medicine noted that access to breast cancer screening has declined for some women. Between 2000 and 2003, the number of mammography facilities operating in the United States dropped from 9,400 to 8,600. Low reimbursement for mammogram interpretation was cited as one reason for the decline.
Radiologists are looking to establish centers where specialists could interpret mammograms sent from remote facilities.
“These results suggest that regional interpretation centers could be established to improve the accuracy and efficiency of screening mammography,” Melton said.
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His study used high-speed broadband connections, which can be difficult to find in some remote areas. Another study by researchers at Purdue University and the University of South Florida suggests that even standard dial-up Internet connections can carry mammogram images successfully.
That study, published in the current issue of Radiology, found it is possible to compress digital mammogram images so they can be transmitted over regular phone lines.
While the compression technique does strip away some of the original data in the image, it was designed to keep all the information necessary to alert a radiologist to an abnormality, said Bradley J. Lucier, a Purdue computer science professor who designed the software.
“The edges of tumors are where growth occurs,” Lucier said. “You have to keep all these features intact when you compress the image.”
In the study, radiologists were able to read the compressed images more accurately than the originals in seven out of nine measures used to determine accuracy.
Free information: It’s become common for wired and wireless phone carriers to charge customers $1.25 and more each time they dial 411 to look up a phone number.
To avoid these charges, one can seek numbers free from several online services, but that may be impractical when a computer isn’t available. A free alternative was launched recently.
By calling 1-800-411-SAVE, you can get a live operator who will look up your number at no charge.
The only catch is you must listen to a short commercial announcement before getting the phone number.
While paying $1.25 a few times a month to get a phone number won’t break most people, it adds up to a very good business for phone companies.
The Palo Alto, Calif., company estimates that Chicago-area phone users place about 70 million calls to 411 annually, spending roughly $100 million.
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