Which is Better? Digital vs Film Mammograms

As a quick follow up to yesterday's post linking an increase risk of false positive results to annual mammograms, I thought I'd point out another study published in this week's issue of Annals of Internal Medicine that concludes that for women 50-79yo, traditional film-based mammograms are just as good as new high tech digital mammograms.  Said another way, there is no outcome benefit from choosing one over the other.  On the other hand, if you're 40-49yo, it appears that digital mammography may have the upper hand due to more dense breast tissue and estrogen receptor-negative tumors.  

The authors came to their conclusion after studying 329,261 women 40-79yo who had undergone 869,286 mammograms over 6yrs (~75% traditional film and ~25% digital).  Yet if you read beyond the headlines & abstracted conclusions, you'll also find that the authors noted digital mammography was more sensitive (read better) for women 60-69yo and estrogen receptor-negative cancers.  In fact, they noted within their study that digital mammography was only marginally better for women 40-49yo, dense breast tissue, and pre- or peri-menopausal women.  These conclusions came from statistical manipulation beyond what my poor brain can handle.

Bottom line?  If and when you decide to get a mammogram, ask for a digital version if at all possible.  More importantly, try to go back to the same facility time after time so that your radiologist can compare your current results to your previous ones.  One last point for younger women w/dense breast tissue and negative mammograms:  tumors can grow rather quickly so if you find something new/different before your next mammogram, don't wait and ignore it.  Check in w/your family physician immediately for an evaluation.

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