3D Breast Imaging Could Revolutionize Cancer Screening

Detection rate for invasive cancers significantly higher than 2D digital mammography

In community-based radiology practice, mammography screening with 3D digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) yielded lower recall rates, an increased overall cancer detection rate, and an increased detection rate for invasive cancer compared with 2D digital mammography (DM).

In the largest report to date, researchers at Washington Radiology Associates, PC, with offices in Washington, DC; Virginia; and Maryland, conducted a study of more than 59,000 patients. The results were striking: an increase in the detection rate for cancer overall of 28.6% and a 43.8% increase in detecting invasive cancers in patients screened with 3D DBT versus 2D DM.

“We observed a significant increase in the detection rate for cancer overall and an even greater increase in the detection rate for invasive cancer,” said Julianne Greenberg, corresponding author of the study. “Our results may be a bellwether for the impact of tomosynthesis on population-based breast cancer screening.”

The study appears ahead of print online in the American Journal of Roentgenology.