Mammography is the gold standard of breast cancer diagnosis, but for women with dense breasts this common women’s imaging modality may result in a false positive.
A new modality, tomosynthesis, that can more accurately image dense breast tissue is currently undergoing a U.S. clinical trial to prove its efficacy, which could mean, among other things a dip in false positives.
Already cleared in Canada and Europe, tomosynthesis is a three-dimensional imaging technology that involves a small number of low dose images of a breast in a 5-second scan. A computer is then used to reconstruct the images into a series of thin, high-resolution slices. This modality offers a number of advantages to radiologists and women’s health specialists, including improved diagnostic and screening accuracy, fewer recalls, and 3D lesion localization.
The trial, which is being sponsored by Hologic—the manufacturer of the system being used in the study—is comparing breast tomosynthesis in combination with conventional digital mammography. There is no additional cost for women to be scanned with the tomosynthesis machine.
(Source: Press Release)
