New mammography technology improves cancer detectionNovember 29, 2007A new radiological diagnostic tool called stereo mammography allows clinicians to detect more lesions and could significantly reduce the number of women who are recalled for additional tests following routine screening mammography. The findings from a clinical trial underway at Emory University were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America held in Chicago. In the study, stereoscopic digital mammography reduced false-positive findings by 49 percent compared to standard digital mammography, and reduced missed lesions by 40 percent, according to Dr. Carl D'Orsi, MD, professor of radiology, Emory University School of Medicine, and director of breast imaging. "This finding is very significant because it shows the technology cuts by almost half the number of women who are recalled for additional tests, reduces the number of false positives that typically occur in standard mammograms and eliminates significant anxiety in patients and their loved ones," says Dr. D'Orsi. "Standard mammography is widely considered to be one of the most difficult exams to read because lesions may be disguised by normal tissue," says Dr. D'Orsi. "At the same time, false-positives can also occur because of the two dimensional images provided by the existing technology." Stereo mammography consists of two digital x-ray images of the breast acquired from two different points of view separated by about eight degrees. When the images are viewed on a stereo display workstation, the radiologist is able to see the internal structure of the breast in three dimensions. In the study, researchers use a full-field digital mammography unit modified to take stereo pairs of images. A stereo display workstation allows the mammographer to fuse the stereo image pair, while viewing the breast in depth. As of July 2007, 1,093 patients at elevated risk for developing breast cancer were enrolled in the clinical trial. Each patient received a full-field, standard digital mammography screening examination and a full-field, stereoscopic digital exam. The exams were read independently by different radiologists. A total of 259 suspicious findings were detected by the combined mammography procedures and were referred for additional diagnostic testing, including biopsy when indicated. Of those, 109 were determined to be true lesions. Standard mammography missed 40 of the 109 lesions while the stereoscopic exam failed to detect 24, a 40 percent decrease in missed lesions. According to the researchers, increasing the use of stereo mammography at many institutions across the country would require simple upgrades to existing digital mammography equipment and software. The stereo digital exam currently takes the same amount of time to read as a standard mammogram, and researchers are working toward making radiation exposure in stereo scans comparable. Emory University |
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| Related Mammography Current Events and Mammography News Articles Researcher: 'Optical biopsy' for breast cancer increasingly accurate But women may not have to endure the medical costs, stress and potential complications that accompany such invasive biopsies forever. A University of Florida biomedical engineering researcher is making progress on an "optical biopsy" that has the potential to determine whether growths are cancerous without ever puncturing the skin. URI research couple's method targets cancerous tumors Two University of Rhode Island associate professors, biophysicists Yana Reshetnyak and Oleg Andreev, have discovered a technology that can detect cancerous tumors and deliver treatment to them without the harming the healthy cells surrounding them, thereby significantly reducing side effects. Study finds delay in follow-up among African-American women receiving abnormal breast finding A new analysis has identified a significant delay in follow-up times among African-American women after the finding of a suspicious breast abnormality. New data: Hospital imaging centers poised to pull back, hitting patients hardest in rural areas Survivors and patients with cancers and heart disease, along with patient advocate organizations and physicians, today urged policymakers to enhance early diagnosis of deadly diseases by preserving access to advanced imaging, such as MRI and CT scans, in final health care reform legislation. Breast tenderness during hormone replacement therapy linked to elevated cancer risk Women who developed new-onset breast tenderness after starting estrogen plus progestin hormone replacement therapy were at significantly higher risk for developing breast cancer than women on the combination therapy who didn't experience such tenderness, according to a new UCLA study. Breast cancer patients with high risk gene diagnosed 6 years earlier than generation before Women with a deleterious gene mutation are diagnosed with breast cancer six years earlier than relatives of the previous generation who also had the disease and/or ovarian cancer, according to new research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Researchers fine-tune Diffuse Optical Tomography for breast cancer screening Clemson University researchers in collaboration with researchers at the University of Bremen, Germany, are working to make the physical pain and discomfort of mammograms a thing of the past, while allowing for diagnostic imaging eventually to be done in a home setting. Surgeons' unanimous consensus: Needle biopsy is gold standard for breast cancer diagnosis A special report published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons indicates that an alarming 35% of initial diagnostic breast biopsies in the United States are still being done using unnecessary open surgical techniques. Researchers believe hormone therapy should not be stopped prior to mammograms Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) are recommending that menopausal women on hormone therapy (HT) continue their treatment prior to having their annual mammogram screenings. Research needed to learn which DCIS patients may be candidates for less invasive therapy Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common non-invasive lesion of the breast, presents unique challenges for patients and providers largely because the natural course of the untreated disease is not well understood. More Mammography Current Events and Mammography News Articles |
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