New CT Scan Better Than Mammography?

Ivanhoe Newswire
Tuesday, November 28, 2006; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new way to capture images of the breast may give mammography a run for its money.

A pilot study from the University of Rochester reveals the Cone Beam Breast Computed Tomography (CBBCT) scanner can capture images just as good or, in a few cases, better than mammography. The device takes 360-degree views of the breasts without having to compress sensitive tissue. The 3-D images can help distinguish benign lesions and calcifications from small cancers that can sometimes hide in dense tissue.

"We have one case in which a cancer shows up phenomenally well using this new imaging system, whereas when you look at the same lesion on a mammogram, it is hard to detect," reports study co-author Avice O'Connell, M.D., from the University of Rochester.

Mammography is the best technology currently available for breast cancer screening but it is only 85-percent accurate in most cases. The biggest challenge is to see lesions in dense tissue.

A major advantage of the CBBCT scanner, according to researchers, is that radiologists can pull up the 3-D images on a computer screen and look at the tissue from many different angles, allowing them to look deep within the breast.

An added bonus of the new device is comfort. During the exam, a woman lies on her belly and puts her breasts through an opening one at a time. The scanner takes 300 pictures by circling the breast for about 10 seconds. Technologists don't need to pull and flatten the breast as they do during mammography.

The pilot study started with 20 volunteers. Researchers will continue until there are 60. A larger clinical trial is planned for 2007.

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SOURCE: Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago, Nov. 26-Dec. 1, 2006