The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

National Program on Women & Aging
 

Women & Aging Letter
Excerpt - October 2000

Taking Steps, Making Choices
Volume 4, Number 5

Earlier this year the National Center on Women & Aging offered a day-long conference made possible by the support of the Brookdale Foundation Group, the Wallerstein Family Foundation for Geriatric Life Improvement, the AXA Foundation, Pfizer Women's Health, and Eli Lilly and Company.

The conference presented the developments in research and practice that are altering our view of women's health as they traverse the years after 50.

This issue of the Letter provided edited excerpts from several of the presentations.  Here is one example:
 

Future Visions
Saralyn Mark, M.D. Senior Medical Advisor to U.S. Public Health Service's Office on Women's Health in HHS and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

We know that mammography can help detect cancer early when tumors are small and can be effectively treated. The problem is that the visual cues for cancerous tissue are often too subtle to spot on a mammogram due to imaging noise or surrounding anatomy.

Searching for a solution to this problem, the Public Health Service turned to technology used by the Department of Defense. The result is digital mammography.

In a military application, we know that the location of most targets is not random; their positions are linked to surrounding areas. For example, it makes sense that tanks appear near roads. Using a CIA automatic target detection system, one can digitize a mammogram and train a computer to learn the normal landscape of the breast, including regions where microcalcifications are more likely to be found.

MRI (medical resonance imaging) has emerged as one of our most promising technologies for detection of breast cancer. Several of our nation's top medical centers are evaluating medical resonance imaging enhanced by CIA technology as a means of increasing our ability to accurately detect and diagnose breast cancer. Over 120 views are taken by MRI, then precisely aligned using CIA's imaging process technology — just as would be done with spy satellite views to detect changes in landscape over time. Thus a new three-dimensional picture is created showing the volume, shape, and size of the tumor.

A conventional mammogram was taken on a 35 year old woman who had a large lymph node that tested positively for cancer. Her breast tissue was so radio-dense that the mammogram read as normal. But the MRI showed a focus of breast cancer. Other similar examples show the limitations of mammography.

Three dimensional technology represents a major leap forward in our ability to image the breast. With further clinical testing to assess the efficacy and safety of this technique, we hope for more accurate biopsy and early treatment.

We are able to visualize the birth of stars using the Hubble Telescope. We should be able to visualize masses and tumors in breast tissue. We're getting closer to that goal with the use of these new imaging technologies.
 

This is an excerpt only.  The production and distribution of this issue of the Letter was made possible through the generous support of the AXA Foundation.

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