Digital Mammography makes Headlines today- DR is better than CR

I received numerous emails and phone calls about todays article published in Radiology May 14, 2013, Digital Mammography: Direct Outperforms Computed Radiography by Laurie Barclay, MD. So what is CR and DR mammography anyhow? A CR (computed radiography) Mammogram is an offline system using a cassette-based removable detector and an external reading device to generate the digital image. This means the mammogram image is on a cassette and then the cassette is put in to a “reader” which converts the information from the cassette to digital and then sends it to the computer reading station. DR (direct radiography) Mammogram is an online system that includes a detector as an integral part of the mammographic unit to allow reading of the digital image in real time. The images are acquired and stored digitally. These units can also do breast tomograms which