Computer-aided mammograms have been in circulation for well over a decade now but scientists have questioned the accuracy of the method all this time. Now, a new study comes to erase any doubt over the issue.

Computer-aided detection or CAD was developed to help radiologists pick up more cancers. According to researchers at the University of Aberdeen, “reading mammograms by a single reader (radiologist) using CAD has been shown to be as clinically effective as having films read by two expert readers,” the study's lead author, Dr. Fiona Gilbert, a professor of radiology at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, said.

In most European countries, including the United Kingdom, every mammogram is read by two independent radiologists for a higher accuracy. Things stay differently in the US, where most mammograms are single-read.

The purpose of the study was to see whether the computer plus one reader would be similarly effective to two readers. For this particular reason, the 31,000 women involved in the study had their films read by two radiologists, by CAD and one radiologist, or using both measures. The study findings were published online in the Oct. 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers found that computer-aided detection spotted nearly the same number of cancers, 198 out of 227, compared to 199 for the two readers. Dr. Gilbert said the method would give doctors the possibility to offer screening to a wider age group. Using computer-aided detection is likely to improve breast cancer detection in those countries where only a single reader is used.

In the US, the government recommends mammograms every one to two years starting at age 40, but experts said there aren’t enough radiologists to give mammograms two readings. Also, insurers don’t pay for a second look. Therefore, such readings by one radiologist with the help of a computer would definitely increase the number of women tested for breast cancer, thus preventing the number of deaths due to the disease.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer among Hispanic women and the second most common cause of death from cancer among white, black, Asian and American Indian women. According to the American Cancer Society’s statistics, breast cancer accounts for nearly one in three cancers diagnosed in American women.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation estimates that each year, over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and over 40,000 die. Breast cancer is not exclusively a disease of women. Approximately 1,700 men are diagnosed with breast cancer and 450 die each year. The incidence of breast cancer increases dramatically after age fifty, with fifty percent of breast cancers diagnosed in women over the age of forty-five. But if breast cancer is detected early, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer exceeds 96 percent. Mammograms are among the best early detection methods. This low-dose X-ray examination method can detect breast cancer up to two years before it is large enough to be felt.