Adding a Third Dimension toMammography

3D mammography is an important technological advancement that can achieve earlier detection, reduce call-backs and improve the screening experience.

Finding breast cancer at an early stage not only improves a woman’s chances for successful treatment, it may also help her avoid a mastectomy. Unfortunately for manywomen with dense breast tissue, achieving early detection with a traditional mammogram can be a challenge.

“Up to 40 percent ofwomen have dense breasts.” notes Dr. Margaret Gallegos, a radiologist and breast imaging specialist atDesert RoseWomen’s Center at Santa Fe Imaging. “And a woman with dense breasts has up to a 6 times greater chance of developing breast cancer, as well as more aggressive forms of the disease.”

Gallegos says that the fibrous tissue within a dense breast can conceal or “mask” some cancers, making it difficult to spot on the two dimensional images of a mammogram. But a new innovation in breast screening called 3Dmammography (also known as breast “tomosynthesis”) is changing that.

3D mammography increases the cancer detection rate by about 40 percent over traditional mammography and significantly lowers recall rates. 1According to the American Cancer Society, 3D mammography has been shown to significantly improve the detection rate in women with dense breasts.

It can also find smaller and more invasive cancers earlier2, which iswhy somany hospitals and imaging centers are now adopting this technology. “Studies show increased detection of cancer with 3D mammography,” Gallegos added.

3D mammography is similar to mammography in that it uses x-rays to produce images of breast tissue. However, unlike 2D mammography, it captures multiple image segments or ‘slices’ of the breast at different angles, and then reconstructs them into a three-dimensional image that is capable of showing more detail, and increases the ability to find smaller cancers that may be obscured by breast tissue.

Whilemost 3Dmammography systems expose the patient to a higher radiation dose to obtain images, the GE Senographe Pristina™ 3Dsystemat Desert RoseWomen’sCenter does not expose the patient to any increase in radiation over a 2Dmammogram.

The vast majority of doctors and advocacy groups that aremost closely involved with breast cancer still firmly recommend that allwomen over 40 have routine screening mammograms.

But while breast screening has been shown to save lives, critics of widespread screening with mammography have cited the high degree of false positives associated with the test, which could lead to unnecessary testing, as well as added stress and anxiety for the patient. 3D mammography has been shown to decrease false positives by 15% and has subsequently reduced the number of callbacks for additional testing.