Mammography - Early Detection, Precise Diagnoses: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

Abstract

This case history describes how the development of x-ray-based techniques and equipment (“mammography”) led to widespread screening for breast cancer and enabled “minimally invasive” biopsies of breast tumors. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) new protocols and equipment catalyzed the first widespread screening programs and minimally invasive biopsies in the 1960s and 1970s; 2) concerns about safety and accuracy spurred technological advance in the 1980s; and 3) digitization further improved the safety and accuracy of mammography in the 1990s and 2000s.

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment, Technological Innovation, Innovation Strategy, Technology Adoption, Collaborative Innovation and Invention, Innovation and Invention, Governing Rules Regulations and Reforms