title: Conventional wisdom: observation, experience, anecdote, and science in breast imaging.
abstract: Science is and should be the foundation of modern medicine, but observation and experience remain key elements in day-to-day clinical care. As mammography and other breast imaging techniques have evolved, early impressions have been replaced by more rigorous scientific testing, which has led to a more thorough understanding of the breast and the anatomic and morphologic origins of the imaging observations. As is true in many reports that involve the use of a new technique, early information is observational and anecdotal and frequently lacking the all-important "denominator" for a particular observation. For a "sign" to be accepted as a reliable indicator of a process, its associations must be compared with the overall prevalence of the observation in the healthy population. Observed associations must be corroborated by objective analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Kopans
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D001706:Biopsy; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005348:Fibrocystic Breast Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008593:Menopause; D018300:Papilloma, Intraductal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014945:Wound Healing