Groundbreaking Mammo IQ Multicenter Study Unlocks Insights in Mammography Clinical Image Quality During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Made Possible by State-of-the-Art A.I.

VALENCIA, SPAIN, September 28, 2023 – Three original research presentations stemming from the Mammo IQ multi-center study spanning 7 breast screening services (BSSs) in 4 countries across North America and Europe are being showcased at the European Society for Breast Imaging (EUSOBI) Annual Congress, Valencia, Spain. 

The Mammo IQ study includes over 250,000 mammograms from 7 BSSs spanning the period December 2019 through May 2021, and is the first such mammography quality study of its kind and scale. The use of cutting-edge A.I. technologies to evaluate mammograms at such a large scale enables research that is otherwise impossible to conduct. The findings reveal the changes in mammography quality stemming from the shift to digital mammography, the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on mammography positioning quality, and the resurgence of screening volumes post-pandemic.

“The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mammography Positioning Quality: Initial Results from the Mammo IQ Multicenter Study”

Lead author Dr. Georgia Spear, Chief Breast Imaging, NorthShore University HealthSystem, alongside her co-authors, investigates the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on mammography positioning quality across 7 BSSs in 4 countries. The results shine a spotlight on mammography positioning quality during the height of the pandemic. The findings provide a view of how BSSs from North America and Europe reacted to the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, how they reverted to their previous error rates, and the marked variability in error rates between the BSSs.

“Evaluating Mammography Positioning Quality on Digital Screening Mammograms in Large Urban Health Systems – A Comparison with Film-screen Mammography”

Lead author Dr. Laurie R. Margolies, Vice-Chair Breast Imaging, Mount Sinai Health System, alongside her co-authors, delves into the current quality of mammography positioning in two significant American urban health systems. They compare this to the standards from the film-screen mammography era. The results indicate notable differences in the most frequent positioning errors between digital mammography and those documented in film-screen mammography literature.

“Post-COVID-19 Recovery of Screening Mammography Volumes: An International Multi-Center Insight”

Lead author Dr. Jean Seely, Chair of Breast Imaging at The Ottawa Hospital, alongside her co-authors, investigates the recovery patterns of mammography screening volumes post the global pandemic announcement. Evaluating a broad sample from the Mammo IQ multi-center study across 7 BSSs in 4 countries, the results underscore the varying pace at which these BSSs resumed their pre-pandemic volume levels. The outcomes highlight the distinct operational impacts the pandemic had on different BSSs and set the stage for future global collaborations aimed at refining recovery initiatives.

The Mammo IQ study was made possible by the use of the densitas intelliMammo® Research Edition A.I. platform which enabled the processing of one quarter of a million mammograms acquired in the study period to evaluate mammography positioning errors, an otherwise impossible task due to lack of resources and lack of standardized assessments across all participating BSSs.

About Densitas®

Densitas Inc. is a global leader in artificial intelligence solutions for breast cancer screening, focused on quality, safety, efficiency, and precision breast health. Densitas intelliMammo®  supports hospitals and imaging centers delivering mammography services to improve efficiencies, meet FDA/ACR compliance requirements, and support early breast cancer detection and treatment. For more information, visit www.densitashealth.com.

For more information or to request an interview please reach out to Jessica Ruby at jessica.ruby@densitashealth.com.