Common sense might tell you that advances in medical technology would make patients safer, and give doctors better tools for doing their job: finding disease and treating it.

That common sense may usually be right, but not in one recent case involving mammograms. A recent study looked at the efficacy of computer-aided-detection (CAD) and specifically whether it helped radiologists who interpret mammogram films find cancer. The study found that CAD didn’t improve accuracy at all, and in fact radiologists might actually miss more cancer because they rely on CAD more than they should, using it as a crutch when interpreting films.

You can read an article in the Seattle Times about the new study here:

[High-tech mammogram tool doesn’t boost cancer detection, study shows](http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/high-tech-mammogram-tool-doesnt-boost-cancer-detection-study-shows/)

As a result of this study, institutions are questioning whether or not they will continue reimbursing providers for CAD.

This appears to be one of those unusual circumstances where phasing out the use of such technology benefits patients individually, and the health care community generally through saving costs.