Pink Alert: Premerus Calls For Raised Awareness On Misdiagnosis Of Breast Cancer

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Article Date: 24 Apr 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Premerus, the nation's only company dedicated to advancing clinical accuracy through diagnostic excellence, summons healthcare consumers and industry stakeholders to raise their levels of concern about the high rate of breast cancer misdiagnoses. Medical misdiagnosis not only impacts outcomes and generates patient anxiety, but it also significantly raises costs for the entire American healthcare system.

"Diagnostic errors of breast cancer merit a state of heightened alert," says Gregg Allen, M.D., chief medical officer of Premerus. "We know that error rates vary dramatically depending upon which radiologist is reading the mammogram. It's time for our healthcare system to respond, and it begins with improved accuracy in the reading of every mammogram. As a result, we should expect to generate better survival rates while decreasing the overall costs associated with breast cancer treatment. "

Improved accuracy of diagnosis should result in identification of disease sooner, which is proven to be highly correlated with patient survival and cost of treatment. According to the American Cancer Society, survival rates are much higher for breast cancer patients when the disease is caught in its earliest stages. Patients with early-stage localized cancer have a five-year survival rate of 98 percent, compared to the 83.5 percent five-year survival rate in patients with more extensive regional disease. The five-year survival rate plummets to 26.7 percent for patients with later stage disease that has spread to other organ systems. Other studies document dramatically higher total cost of treatment for later stage cancer.

Premerus obtains more accurate results by identifying a Certified Premerus Expert whose area of demonstrated competency relates to the patient's clinical needs, specific organ or body part, such as the breast. With Premerus and the use of teleradiology, geography is no longer a barrier in accessing specialty physicians with expertise specifically related to the patient's clinical needs.

"For example, a local imaging facility may provide services and technology for performing the scan, but instead of relying on a general radiologist for interpretation, the study is sent digitally to a radiologist who specializes in reading mammograms," explains Norman A. Scarborough, M.D., a board-certified radiologist and medical director of Premerus. "This allows Premerus to provide access to some of the leading experts in America to patients, no matter where the patient's mammogram is performed."

This Premerus specialist with extensive experience in reading mammograms reports back to the ordering physician.

"For radiologists, some may be better qualified to read images for detecting breast cancer while others may be more qualified to evaluate bone or joint injuries," he continues. "For example, Premerus is the first-of-its-kind company with a dedicated focus on identifying which physicians get better results for various diseases and body parts -- then matching the scan for each patient to the most qualified radiologists somewhere in America."

A new study from Columbia University involving nearly 30,000 cases and three years of experience have confirmed that the transmission and interpretation of digital mammography exams to and from a remote location through commercially available high-speed cable Internet is feasible, safe, reliable, and cost-effective (American Roentgen Ray Society meeting, Washington, DC.; 4/14/08)

According to principal investigator Alan R. Melton, M.D., an assistant professor of radiology at Columbia, there are serious concerns regarding the future of screening mammography. He says women's access to mammography has been endangered due to a shortage of breast imaging specialists.

"The Columbia study provides academic support that the technology infrastructure Premerus uses works in the practical world," says Dr. Scarborough. "It is very disturbing when people realize that many breast cancers are not detected with mammograms, even though abnormalities are present."

He points to research from the University of Arizona which retrospectively reviewed the previous mammograms performed on women who developed breast cancer. Seventy-five percent of the most recent previous mammograms, which were initially interpreted as having no evidence of a malignant tumor, were found to actually show signs of cancer by at least one of three radiologist reviewers.

"The value of the Premerus model grows daily," he concludes.

About Premerus

Premerus is the industry's first and only diagnostic management company, representing a new healthcare paradigm: the coordinated focus of resources, expertise and technology to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. Premerus is dedicated to advancing clinical accuracy through diagnostic excellence.

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