Publications
Publications
- 2024
- HBS Working Paper Series
Mammography - Early Detection, Precise Diagnoses: Case Histories of Transformational Advances
By: Amar Bhidé, Srikant M. Datar and Katherine Stebbins
Abstract
This case history describes how the development of x-ray-based techniques and equipment (“mammography”) led to widespread screening for breast cancer and enabled “minimally invasive” biopsies of breast tumors. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) new protocols and equipment catalyzed the first widespread screening programs and minimally invasive biopsies in the 1960s and 1970s; 2) concerns about safety and accuracy spurred technological advance in the 1980s; and 3) digitization further improved the safety and accuracy of mammography in the 1990s and 2000s.
Keywords
Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Invention; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms
Citation
Bhidé, Amar, Srikant M. Datar, and Katherine Stebbins. "Mammography - Early Detection, Precise Diagnoses: Case Histories of Transformational Advances." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-002, July 2019. (Revised May 2024.)