Published Jun 24, 2020

Inaccurate Mammograms Miss Breast Cancer in 18 Women At Virginia Center: Guidance For Safe Screening

A damning report puts a mammography center in Virginia out of business, what can women do to protect from bad apples and ensure safe screening?

Constance Costas

Details

Protect Yourself From Bad Mammograms

Check the FDA’s website to look for mammography centers which have been flagged for safety violations.
If your center changes hands, ask for confirmation of the credentials for your new physician.
Ask to have results shared with your primary care physician so that doctor can have a second look
Confirm that records have been received and checked by your primary care doctor

It’s a woman’s worst nightmare: A radiologist in Virginia gave 18 women the all-clear on their mammograms — when, in fact, they had breast cancer. And while instances of bad-apple mammography centers are rare, they happen. How can women protect themselves?

Check With the FDA

The FDA posts updated safety notifications, listing mammography centers that fail to meet the standards set forth in the Mammography Quality Standards Act. The agency also requires flagged centers to notify affected patients and their health care providers that their recent mammograms could show unreliable results. Ten facilities are currently listed but, as of today, the Virginia facility is not among them.

Advice From A Patient Who’s Been There

Bridgette Newberry, a breast cancer survivor, was a patient at the latest mammography center to be shuttered. She lost access to a decade of medical records when Allison Breast Center was closed by the Virginia Board of Medicine in a damning 60-page report.

Without her mammogram records, Newberry told SurvivorNet, she now faces a new round of biopsies to confirm that her breast calcifications and scar tissue from a 2007 lumpectomy are benign. “It’s a huge clusterfu#k,” says Newberry, who says she’s had “anxiety like crazy” at the thought of a missed diagnosis. She spoke out to help other women avoid the problem:

Share Your Mammogram Results

“Ask your radiologist to share your mammogram results with your primary care physician,” Newberry says. “That way, you’ll have a backup set if your mammography center goes out of business.” In fact, Newberry did this, but discovered — too late — that her records were never sent: “Confirm that they’ve received them,” she adds. She’s called, written, and papered the doors and windows of her now-closed mammography center with letters requesting her records; so far, to no avail.

Dr. Connie Lehman, Chief of the Breast Imaging Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, on dense breasts and mammograms

If Your Center Changes Hands — Re-Confirm Credentials

Newberry wasn’t alarmed when her mammography center changed hands two years ago. “I assumed they’d sold the business to a qualified radiologist.” Except for a new doctor at the helm, the office remained unchanged.

She saw no cause for concern — except one: “They gave me a carnation at appointments,” she says, “that annoyed the hell out of me — I just want the facts.” It’s uncertain whether a check of the new radiologist with her state medical board may have yielded red flags. But know that when a mammography center changes management, the quality of care can change, as well.

Diagnostic Vs. Screening Mammograms

Other ways to protect yourself: If you’ve detected a lump, make sure you’re getting a diagnostic mammogram — not a screening mammogram, which is for women who have no other signs of

disease. In one allegation, the Virginia doctor, Michael John Bigg, MD, “failed to order a diagnostic mammogram” for a patient who had a lump in her breast. The screening mammogram failed to include metal markers around the suspected lump during the imaging process and the lump was overlooked.

Know If You Have Dense Breasts

Dense breast tissue makes it more difficult to detect cancer with a regular mammogram. Unfortunately, only a mammogram can determine if you have dense breast tissue.

Bestselling author and breast cancer survivor Laura Morton learned an important lesson about self-advocacy during a mammogram.

Dense breast tissue blocks the X-Ray and so that looks white,” says Dr. Connie Lehman, Chief of the Breast Imaging Division at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Unfortunately cancers also block the X-Ray and also look white. And so when you have a white cancer, hiding in white dense breast tissue, it can be missed.”

When author and breast cancer survivor, Laura Morton, asked her radiologist about dense breasts, she was brushed off. “You can not feel if you have dense breasts. You have to be told,” Morton says. So if your radiologists can’t answer your question, make sure your doctor does. Given your risk factors, you may want to opt for 3D mammography or a breast ultrasound, instead.

Be Aware of Breast Calcifications

Half of all women who get a mammogram after they reach menopause will likely hear they have calcifications in their breasts. In most cases, calcifications in the breast are benign, but in some instances, the presence of large clusters of calcium can indicate what’s known as “stage zero breast cancer,” or even full-fledged breast cancer. To know for sure, further testing is required.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

Constance Costas is a writer for SurvivorNet.

Check the FDA’s website to look for mammography centers which have been flagged for safety violations.
If your center changes hands, ask for confirmation of the credentials for your new physician.
Ask to have results shared with your primary care physician so that doctor can have a second look
Confirm that records have been received and checked by your primary care doctor