Dispatches September 2024

• Ensuring Quality in Mammography: Key Updates to the Mammography Quality Standards Act 
• Enhancing Engagement and Accountability at the AIRP Radiologic-Pathology Correlation Course 
• Radiology’s Role in Evaluating Injury Imaging at the Olympics

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Key Updates to the Mammography Quality Standards Act 

The FDA has finalized amendments to the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) of 1992, a pivotal law ensuring high-quality mammography for early breast cancer detection. The MQSA mandates FDA oversight of mammography facilities, including accreditation, certification, annual inspections and enforcement of standards. 

The new rule also enhances the FDA's ability to directly communicate with patients and healthcare providers when facilities fail to meet quality standards. This ensures crucial information, such as the need for further evaluation or a repeat mammogram, is fully communicated, supporting informed patient care decisions.

A significant update to MQSA regulations requires facilities to inform patients about their breast tissue density. Effective Sept. 10th, stipulated language regarding breast density must be included in patient lay letters. Patients with dense breasts should discuss breast density, cancer risks, and individual situations with their healthcare providers. The ACR hosted a town hall meeting regarding these amendments.

For compliance questions, contact MQSAhotline@versatechinc.com.

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Enhancing Engagement and Accountability at the AIRP Radiologic-Pathology Correlation Course 

With the start of a new academic year, the faculty and staff at the AIRP have renewed their focus on learner engagement and accountability to residency programs. Beginning with the virtual Radiologic-Pathology Correlation Course in July 2024, the AIRP has shifted towards live, interactive sessions with audience response questions and Zoom chat functions to facilitate engagement and real-time understanding assessment. This change allows the faculty to adjust their pace to match learners' needs and is supplemented by pre-recorded, self-paced lectures. These integrated questions also assess learner participation, a key criterion for course completion. 

Additionally, with the permission of individual residents, residency Program Directors and Program Coordinators can now view residents' progress through the course material in real-time. This feature supports those struggling to keep pace with the challenging material. 

AIRP leaders hope these changes lead to improved learning and retention of key radiologic-pathologic correlation concepts for future application to clinical cases at the workstation and during interdisciplinary conferences. This improved accountability allows training programs to continue to rely on the AIRP to provide valuable education to their trainees. 

Visit AIRP for more information and to register.

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Radiology’s Role at the Olympics

The Olympics provides a unique opportunity for sports radiologists to treat injuries related to sports not familiar in the mainstream. It’s a challenge that Bruce B. Forster, MSc, MD, FRCPC, was more than willing to accept starting with the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

The International Olympic Committee begins looking for local radiologist volunteers when host cities are named. In 2010, Forster’s mentor, Jack Taunton, MD, invited him to join the team. Forster jumped right into preparing, studying the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, and attending the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, to get a sense of what a typical day looks like for a radiologist at the Olympics. 

Forster led a team of 19 radiologists and 51 technologists and worked two shifts everyday between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. local time. Despite having only one third of the athletes the Summer games have, injuries that occur at the Winter Games are more frequent and severe, Forster said.

Read the whole article.