Mammography, an X-ray procedure that can detect small breast tumors, is an important tool for detecting breast cancer at an early stage and, when coupled with appropriate treatment, can reduce breast cancer deaths. In 2002, GAO reported in Mammography: Capacity Generally Exists to Deliver Services (GAO-02-532) that the capacity to provide mammography services was generally adequate, but that the number of mammography facilities had decreased by 5 percent from 1998 to 2001 and that about one-fourth of counties had no machines. GAO was asked to update its information on facility closures and mammography service capacity. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates mammography quality and maintains a database on mammography facilities and other capacity elements. GAO reviewed FDA data on facility closures and examined reasons for closures in recent years. GAO analyzed changes in the nation's capacity for and use of mammography services using FDA capacity data and National Center for Health Statistics data on service use. GAO also interviewed state and local officials about the effects of the loss or absence of mammography

Mammography is an important tool for detecting breast cancer at an early stage. When coupled with appropriate treatment, early detection can reduce breast cancer mortality. At the request of Congress, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioned a study to examine the current practice of mammography and breast cancer detection, with a focus on the FDA's oversight via the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA), to identify areas in need of improvement. Enacted in 1993, MQSA provides a general framework for ensuring national quality standards in facilities performing screening mammography, requires that each mammography facility be accredited and certified, and mandates that facilities will undergo annual inspections. This book recommends strategies for achieving continued progress in assuring mammography quality, including changes to MQSA regulation, as well as approaches that do not fall within the purview of MQSA. Specifically, this book provides recommendations aimed at improving mammography interpretation; revising MQSA regulations, inspections, and enforcement; ensuring an adequate workforce for breast cancer screening and diagnosis; and improving breast imaging quality beyond mammography.

The outlook for women with breast cancer has improved in recent years. Due to the combination of improved treatments and the benefits of mammography screening, breast cancer mortality has decreased steadily since 1989. Yet breast cancer remains a major problem, second only to lung cancer as a leading cause of death from cancer for women. To date, no means to prevent breast cancer has been discovered and experience has shown that treatments are most effective when a cancer is detected early, before it has spread to other tissues. These two facts suggest that the most effective way to continue reducing the death toll from breast cancer is improved early detection and diagnosis. Building on the 2001 report Mammography and Beyond, this new book not only examines ways to improve implementation and use of new and current breast cancer detection technologies but also evaluates the need to develop tools that identify women who would benefit most from early detection screening. Saving Women's Lives: Strategies for Improving Breast Cancer Detection and Diagnosis encourages more research that integrates the development, validation, and analysis of the types of technologies in clinical practice that promote improved risk identification techniques. In this way, methods and technologies that improve detection and diagnosis can be more effectively developed and implemented.

"This publication, the third edition of Mammographic Imaging: A Practical Guide, retains information on analog mammography, builds upon ongoing developments for breast imaging, and introduces new trends in the field of breast imaging. Specifically, thereare five chapters related to digital mammography that address digital technology (machines, image acquisition, image manipulation, and storage), QC, comparisons to imaging with analog mammography, and changes in workflow for the mammography technologist"--Provided by publisher.