3D scan raises cancer hopes

Superior 3D imaging method developed by GE and Siemens undergoes UK trials

New 3D breast scanning technology can detect significantly more potentially lethal tumours than traditional X-rays, research has shown.

The technique, which builds up a detailed three-dimensional picture of breast tissue, also reduces the number of patient recalls.

Compared with conventional breast scans, the 3D imaging method developed by GE and Siemens, also known as digital breast tomosynthesis, increased detections of invasive cancers by 41%, US scientists found.

It also led to a 15% drop in unnecessary recalls for repeat scans because of false alarms, and a 29% higher detection rate for all breast cancers. The technology is now undergoing trials in the UK. 

Senior author Dr Emily Conant, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said: “It’s the most exciting improvement to mammography that I have seen in my career, even more important for women than the conversion from film-screen mammography to digital.

“3D mammography finds more clinically significant breast cancers earlier, which is the key so that women have more treatment options and better health outcomes.”

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, assessed nearly half a million conventional and 3D scans at 13 US sites.

Baroness Morgan, chief executive of the Breast Cancer Campaign, said: “This is one of the largest studies to date to report that adding tomosynthesis to digital mammography appears to improve the accuracy of breast screening.

“These are promising results and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of adding tomosynthesis to digital mammography in other trials, particularly the results of the UK ‘Tommy trial’, which aims to assess whether tomosynthesis could enhance digital mammography.”

Mammography usually takes two X-rays of each breast from different angles - top to bottom and side to side. The breast is pulled away from the body, compressed, and held between two glass plates. Regular mammography records the pictures on film and the images are read by a radiologist. Breast cancer, which is denser than most healthy nearby breast tissue, appears as irregular white areas.

Mammograms have some significant limitations - the compression of the breast can be uncomfortable and can cause overlapping of the breast tissue. A breast cancer can be hidden in the overlapping tissue and not show up on the mammogram.

Digital tomosynthesis takes multiple X-ray pictures of each breast from many angles. The breast is positioned the same way it is in a conventional mammogram, but only a little pressure is applied. The X-ray tube moves in an arc around the breast while 11 images are taken which are assembled by a computer.