Breast, lung imaging facilities often in close proximity, with opportunity for same-visit screenings
Breast and lung cancer imaging facilities often are near one another, presenting the opportunity for same-day screenings, according to new research.
About 76% of eligible women reported undergoing mammography in the last year, one recent survey found. That’s compared to roughly 18% for low-dose CT lung cancer screening, according to another, experts detailed Monday in JACR. Why not leverage high breast cancer screening prevalence to boost LDCT uptake?
Researchers aimed to answer this question, analyzing the feasibility of conducting both screening exams within the same visit. They found that over 38% of mammography facilities are within 1 mile of a nearby lung screening provider, and almost 60% of this segment share the same address.
“The national prevalence of mammography is high enough in all counties—from 50.6% in Bethel County, Ark., to 83.4% in Middlesex County, Mass.—to provide a good opportunity to reach women at risk for [lung cancer] by combining mammogram appointments with LCS interventions to assess eligibility,” lead author V. Lisa Douangchai Wills, a data scientist with the American Cancer Society, and colleagues wrote May 26.
For the study, researchers used public data to calculate the number of women ages 50-74, how many have undergone mammography, and estimated LCS eligibility. They found that about 30% of counties nationwide had mammography facilities located near a LCS site. Most of these “nearby facilities” (about 52%) are in metropolitan geographies, “presenting a disparity in access between rural and urban areas.”
In counties with these “nearby facilities,” there are about 27 million women who have undergone mammography and 5.2 million LCS-eligible women to be reached.
“Coincidental areas of high [lung cancer] mortality rates and high estimated mammography use with nearby facilities present an opportunity for in-reach interventions to increase awareness and evaluation for LCS,” the authors advised. “Interventions through state cancer consortia, health departments, or healthcare systems may increase awareness about LCS, evaluations for eligibility, and improve cancer screening navigation for women who undergo mammography.”
The authors believe that areas with high lung cancer mortality rates and low estimated mammography use “should be considered for increasing awareness of both.” This could include adding screening locations and targeted use of mobile imaging units in geographies such as the Mississippi Delta Region, “which lacks facilities in general.”
“Although we do not know whether the 5.2 million individuals that may be eligible for LCS in counties with nearby facilities have undergone mammography, reaching a subset of this population has the potential to raise the screening rates among women and save lives,” the authors added. “This study presented an approach to identify areas that could be a testbed at the county, state, or health system level.”
Read more about the results, including potential study limitations, in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. Another recent study published in JAMA found that patients eligible for both breast and lung cancer screening are undergoing their mammograms in large numbers while skipping low-dose CT.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.