A multicentre review of the direct-access mammography programme in Ireland for women with breast pain.

AIM: To assess the current use of the direct access mammography pathway for breast pain and the rate of breast cancer detection in this patient cohort. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of general practitioner (GP)-referred mammograms performed during a 12-month period from January to December 2022 across four tertiary referral centres. With the use of medical records and GP referrals, patient demographics, presenting symptoms, family history, and clinical outcomes were recorded. RESULTS: The present study comprised 2,046 patients of which 21.6% did not report breast pain at the time of referral. Thirty-five per cent had a positive family history with 40% of these patients having no breast pain. Twelve per cent were recalled with 30% of these patients requiring biopsy. An overall cancer detection rate (CDR) of 7 per 1000 was determined for women with mastalgia. A CDR of 0 per 1,000 was determined for women <50 years with mastalgia alone and no additional risk factors for malignancy. Fisher's exact test showed no statistically significant association between breast pain and breast cancer. CONCLUSION: There was no statistically significant relationship found between breast pain and breast cancer. This review suggests a low cancer detection rate in women <50 years. In women <50 years with mastalgia without additional symptoms or family history, breast imaging is not required.

Model for water transport into powdered xanthan combining gel swelling and vapor diffusion.

Water ingress into xanthan powder compressed to various packing densities has been studied using nuclear magnetic resonance stray field imaging (STRAFI). A foot is observed ahead of the main water ingress front which is attributed to vapor transport around the particles. The main development of the reported work is an analytical model which describes the coupling of vapor transport through the pore space and liquid transport through the progressively swelling gel which gradually occludes the vapor path. Good agreement between theory and experiment is found over a wide range of packing densities with the model requiring only one adjustable parameter, the water diffusivity in the gel measured in a constant polymer mass reference frame. It is suggested that the results are of considerable relevance to situations where the polymer is produced at low concentration by bacteria such as in the rhizosphere and aerial bio films.