Apr 5, 2019
Vidcast: https://youtu.be/sUTVOR1Ozvo
Digital breast tomosynthesis, better known as 3D mammography, provides such precise imaging that many women can be saved from needing breast biopsies. The procedure captures multiple images of the breast from varying angles and a computer synthesizes them into a 3D image allowing the radiologist to examine each image layer by itself. Conventional mammography captures only two images: top to bottom and side to side.
The UK’s National Health Service Breast Screening Programme surveyed nearly 31,000 women who were imaged with both conventional mammography or 3D mammography. The data showed that use of 3D mammography along with conventional mammography would have cut the percentage of women referred for biopsy nearly in half from 69% to 36%. This enhanced technique also reduced the percentage of biopsies that turned out benign and therefore unnecessary from 75 to 52%.
Three-D mammography is particularly helpful for women with very large, dense, or scarred breasts. It is becoming increasingly available in most cities.
If you are facing your annual mammogram, ask your doctors if the 3-D technique might be a good fit for you.
Nisha Sharma, Michelle McMahon, Isobel Haigh, Yan Chen, Barbara J. G. Dall. The Potential Impact of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis on the Benign Biopsy Rate in Women Recalled within the UK Breast Screening Programme. Radiology, 2019; 180809 DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2019180809
#Mammography #tomosynthesis #3Dmammography #breastbiopsy