Daniel Kopans

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Daniel B. Kopans, MD, FACR is a radiologist specializing in mammography and other forms of breast imaging.

Dr. Daniel Kopans is a leading expert in breast cancer detection and diagnosis. He is the founder of the Breast Imaging Division in the Department of Radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1984 he was the lead author on a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the developing subspecialty of "Breast Imaging". One of the founders of this new field, Dr. Kopans has been at the forefront of combining mammography, ultrasound, and other imaging tests to aid in the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Dr. Kopans led the defense of screening for women ages 40–49 when an effort was made, in the 1990s, to deny these women access to screening.

Dr. Kopans is author of over 200 scientific articles. [1] Dr. Kopans invented the Kopans Wire used in needle localization that made it possible for radiologists to accurately guide surgeons to lesions detected by mammography which made it possible to diagnose breast cancers at a smaller size and earlier stage excisional breast biopsies. [2] He was also instrumental in creation of the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) coding system used in all American mammography reports, serving as co-chair of a committee of the American College of Radiology which developed this system. [3] This system helped to standardize the reporting of mammography results. Dr. Kopans has also been a leading figure in the development of breast tomosynthesis.

Kopans was a leading figure in the debate over the advisability of screening mammography beginning in the 1980s. [1] During the early 1990s, following a decision by the National Cancer Institute to drop support for screening women in their 40s, and subsequently following series of articles in The New York Times by Gina Kolata which questioned the value of screening mammography for those in the 40-50 age group, Dr. Kopans was a leading figure during a prolonged battle, arguing in favor of the benefits of mammography. [4] [5] By 1997, the National Cancer Institute had reversed course and once again supported screening for women in their 40s. However, 2009 United States Preventive Services Task Force guidelines no longer recommend routine screening in women 40 to 49.[ citation needed ]

Kopans is author of the textbook Breast Imaging. [6] He practices radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital [7] in Boston and is a professor at Harvard Medical School.

Kopans attended Harvard College where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree Cum Laude in 1969. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1973, where he was also inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. Following a medical internship at Dartmouth Medical School, Dr. Kopans completed his residency training in 1977 at Massachusetts General Hospital in diagnostic radiology, where he received board certification and was then appointed to the staff of the Department of Radiology at MGH one year later. [8] The American Society of Breast Disease honored Daniel Kopans with the 2007 Pathfinder Award in Breast Imaging for his work in helping to improve breast cancer survival. [9] He is also a recipient of a gold medal from the Society for Breast Imaging. [1]

Related Research Articles

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Computed tomography laser mammography (CTLM) is the trademark of Imaging Diagnostic Systems, Inc. for its optical tomographic technique for female breast imaging.

The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1923, is a professional medical society representing nearly 40,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breast MRI</span> Form of breast imaging

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Philip Strax was an American radiologist who pioneered the use of mammography to screen for early breast cancer. With his co-investigators, the statistician Sam Shapiro and the surgeon Louis Venet, he conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing outcomes of over 60,000 women who received either mammogram and clinical breast exam or standard medical care. The first results of this study were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1966. The study demonstrated that screening mammograms, which are routine periodic mammograms of asymptomatic women, could find breast cancer at an early enough stage to save lives. For this research Strax and Shapiro shared the Kettering Prize for outstanding contributions to cancer diagnosis or treatment in 1988.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2008-04-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ Kopans DB, DeLuca S (March 1980). "A modified needle-hookwire technique to simplify preoperative localization of occult breast lesions". Radiology. 134 (3): 781. doi:10.1148/radiology.134.3.7355235. PMID   7355235.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ Kopans DB (January 1992). "Standardized mammography reporting". Radiologic Clinics of North America. 30 (1): 257–64. doi:10.1016/S0033-8389(22)02499-X. PMID   1732932. S2CID   39809280.
  4. ↑ Kolata, Gina (February 26, 1993). "Studies Say Mammograms Fail to Help Many Women". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  5. ↑ Sowinski, J. (1997). "Breast-Screening Brawl". Science. 275 (5307): 1721a–1725. doi:10.1126/science.275.5307.1721a. PMID   9122673. S2CID   43795713.
  6. ↑ Kopans, Daniel B. (2007). Breast imaging . Hagerstwon, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. ISBN   978-0-7817-4768-4.[ page needed ]
  7. ↑ Mass General Hospital - Radiology Staff - Daniel B. Kopans, MD Archived August 4, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Printer Friendly Version". Dexelaimaging.com. Retrieved 2011-01-02.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Bulletin : Honors and Advances", Focus, Harvard University, 2007-03-09, archived from the original on 2013-04-09, retrieved 2013-03-16
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