New Technology has More Accurate Diagnosis of Breast Cancers
Reported November 29, 2005

 
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Digital tomosynthesis is a more specific breast cancer technique and more accurate diagnostic technology than traditional film mammography, according to a recent study.

Steven Poplack, M.D., an associate professor of diagnostic radiology and obstetrics and gynecology at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center/Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, N.H., led researchers in a recent study examining tomosynthesis as an alternative testing method for breast cancer. Tomosynthesis obtains digital data that can be manipulated and displayed in a variety of ways, including paging through or cine display of thin sections or slices of breast tissue. The new technique eliminates the problem of overlying tissue that might be mistaken for lesions or could be hiding small cancers.

Investigators studied 98 women recalled for diagnostic imaging following abnormal screening mammograms. The initial exams used conventional film mammography and documented 112 occurrences. When researchers compared the new exams using tomosynthesis with the old data, nearly 40 percent of the patients would not have been recalled had they been screened with tomosynthesis originally.

"The results of our preliminary trial suggest that tomosythesis may decrease false-positive screening mammography findings by half, thereby reducing the number of women who are recalled after screening mammography for a second, more thorough exam," Dr. Poplack says. Along with reducing the number of false-positives, Dr. Poplack says the new technology will help doctors find earlier breast cancers.

Researchers expect tomosynthesis, which is currently in the research stage, to be available at major medical centers in the next several years.

SOURCE: Annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, Nov. 26 - Dec. 2, 2005