Mammography Quality Standards Act: an update

Healthfacts, Sept, 1996

Women are advised to take possession of their mammograms once the radiologist has interpreted results. Physicians often want to see an older x-ray for com- parison purposes in the event of a possible breast cancer diagnosis. What's more, x-ray facilities have been known to lose or misplace medical records, and some are slow in passing them on.

But many women report resistance on the part of the x-ray facility. Now they can quote the Mammography Quality Standards Act which says that a woman can request that her original mammogram and other medical records be permanently transferred to herself, her physician, or another medical facility.

Should your request be denied, register a complaint with the x-ray facility's FDA-approved accreditation agency. (Call the FDA's mammography hotline at 1-800-838-7715 for the agency in your region.) To avoid problems, state your desire to own the mammogram when making the appointment.

Every facility in the country that is lawfully operating is currently certified to meet the interim standards [of the Mammography Quality Standards Act], said Charles Showalter, Chief of the FDA's mammography standards branch, in a telephone interview.

The Mammography Quality Standards Act has also taken a major step toward improving image quality by requiring each facility to correlate the biopsy results with the physician's interpretation of the mammogram. Until now, no accrediation program, including that of the American College of Radiology, required this crucial means of tracking radiologists to determine whether they are accurately diagnosing breast cancer.

Unfortunately for women, Mr. Showalter says that these outcomes data are only intended to be used internally as an educational tool. Furthermore, there are no future plans to make this critical information public so that women can make a truly informed choice of where to undergo mammography screening. Women are encouraged to use the above-mentioned hotline to urge the FDA to make each x-ray facility's outcomes data public.