X-ray mammography procedures in the United States saw a 2 percent dip last year, from 37.3 million procedures in 2007 to 36.7 million procedures in 2008, according to a report published by healthcare marketing research company IMV Medical Information Division.

"The 36.7 million procedures conducted in 2008 represent a decline of 16 percent from an estimated 43.9 million procedures in 2000, or about a 2 percent decline per year," said Lorna Young, IMV's senior director of market research. "This may be partially influenced by a 13 percent reduction in the number of MQSA certified sites in the United States from 9,910 sites as of May 2000 to 8,670 sites as of December 2007."

The market research report found that breast care centers appear to have both higher volumes of procedures and higher productivity than other mammography locations. They have more full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, as well as more productivity in terms of procedures per FTE. Dedicated breast care centers located in hospitals had a high average of 2,120 procedures per FTE technologist, as did non-hospital breast centers, with an average of 1,900 procedures per technologist.

Standalone and hospital-based breast centers also had more mammography units installed than other locations (2.5 compared to the overall average of 1.4), and performed more mammography procedures per unit, according to IMV.

The company said its market research report also found that:

• As of the 2008 study, 38 percent of the installed mammography units have digital capability (including full-field digital mammography and CR) and 62 percent are film-screen units.
• Overall, 36 percent of the sites indicate that the typical lead time to schedule a diagnostic mammography appointment is less than a day, 57 percent from one day to one week and 7 percent from one week to one month. The proportion of sites with a lead time of less than one day has increased from 21 percent in 2005 to the current 36 percent.
• Ultrasound is used for breast imaging at nearly three-quarters of the mammography centers. Other imaging modalities, including scintimammography, breast MRI imaging and PET scanning for breast cancer are available at these centers to lesser degrees.
• More than half of the mammography centers currently use computer-aided detection (CAD) software systems to improve the diagnostic confidence of x-ray mammography.
• Ultrasound-guided biopsies are performed by 44 percent the sites, while stereotactic biopsies are performed at 25 percent and MRI-guided biopsies are performed at 19 percent of the mammography sites.