Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2017
Keywords:
Radiation safety, Radiation effects, Mammography, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Breast, Action 12 - Information for and communication with patients, Action 13 - Stakeholder engagement and collaboration, Action 11 - Improved patient communication, Action 10 - Improved communication and collaboration of health professionals in radiation protection, Socio-economic issues, Education and training
Authors:
I. Seimenis, K. Chouchos, P. Prassopoulos
DOI:
10.1594/esi2017/ESI-0028
Background/Introduction
X-ray mammography screening involves repeated exposure to ionizing radiation and,
therefore,
is associated with a risk for radiogenic breast cancer [1].
Radiation-induced breast cancer incidence and mortality from x-ray mammography screening are impacted by many factors,
such as dose variability from screening and resultant diagnostic work-up,
initiation age,
screening frequency and breast size [2].
It is well documented that the benefits of screening outweigh radiogenic breast cancer risk [2-5].
Nevertheless,
annual screening of 100,000 women aged 40 to 74 years has been projected to induce,
on average,
125 breast cancers leading to 16 deaths [2].
In addition,
there is general concern regarding the continuous increase of the radiation burden to the population from medical applications [6].
It is not surprisingly,
therefore,
that there is a relevant feeling of unease among the women undergoing mammography for breast cancer screening purposes.
Online social media,
social networking sites or microblogs (e.g.,
Facebook,
MySpace,
Flickr,
Twitter and YouTube) have emerged as rapidly growing mechanisms to exchange personal and professional information.
Social media has also created networked communication channels that facilitate interactions and allow information to proliferate within academic communities [7].
The most dynamic and concise form of information exchange on social media occurs on microblogs.
Twitter has probably become the most powerful tool among the social media for disseminating medical news and fostering healthcare conversations,
with a plethora of different uses in medicine and healthcare [8].
According to a recent study,
however,
approximately half of the medical tweets from professional accounts on Twitter were found to be false based on expert review [9].
This study aims at investigating the informational and opinion trends regarding “radiation risk from x-ray mammography” within the popular microblog service of Twitter.
It also consists an effort to highlight the degree of engagement of healthcare professionals and associated scientists in educating,
through Twitter,
the public and potential patients regarding the risk-to-benefit ratio of mammography screening examinations.
Furthermore,
this work provides a baseline from which to assess future views in social media with respect to the use of x-ray mammography for breast cancer screening.