Commonly used computer-assisted detection (CAD) makes mammograms more costly -- but not better at finding cancers, a large-scale study finds. CAD is now used to help interpret three-fourths of mammograms in the U.S. It adds 9% to 15% to the cost of a mammogram. Despite the extra cost, CAD doesn’t improve breast cancer detection or help find cancers at a more favorable stage for treatment, according to an analysis of some 685,000 women who underwent more than 1.6 million mammograms. “In real-world practice, our study suggests CAD has little impact on the outcomes of screening mammography,” study leader Joshua J. Fenton, MD, MPH, of the University of California, Davis, tells WebMD.
