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Radiologists' use of computer-aided technique to read mammograms more frequently after Medicare began bearing the cost for it. Nevertheless,the usage worthyness is still in doubt says UC Davis doctor's study.

The findings, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, illustrate the need for ongoing analysis of new medical technologies, said Dr. Joshua Fenton, the study's lead author.

Medicare pays radiology labs an extra fee for using the computer-aided method, and Fenton estimated those fees totaled about $19 million annually in 2003, the last year he analyzed.

Between 2001 and 2003, use of the technique rose from about 5 percent to 27 percent of the mammograms for older women covered by Medicare.

Earlier studies have shown that the computer-assisted method pinpoints many abnormalities that are not cancer.These "false positives" can mean that more healthy women undergo the stress of a potential cancer diagnosis as well as the biopsies or other procedures that may follow.

What is still unclear is whether the technique saves lives, and if so how many women would be falsely diagnosed to save each life.An accompanying editorial in the medical journal said that the computer-aided way of reading mammograms is just one example of a new technology being widely used before large, rigorous studies can show whether it's effective.

In the face of this "technology creep," the editorial states, doctors and their patients need to remember that newer isn't always better.

Source: The Sacramento Bee, Calif.