New
Behind the Cancer Headlines®
At the Radiological Society of North America meeting in
The Cone Beam Breast Computed Tomography (CBBCT) scanner takes 360-degree views of breast anatomy, without having to compress the sensitive tissue. It produces three-dimensional pictures, which are designed to distinguish benign lesions and calcifications from tiny cancers that are sometimes hidden within dense tissue. Also, the CBBCT system clearly displays tissue around the ribs and outer breast toward the armpit, where 50 percent of cancers are found. Getting the tissue on the outer edges of the breast to show up on a conventional mammogram film is one reason why technologists must pull and flatten the breast.
"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," said Avice O'Connell, M.D., director of women's imaging for the University of Rochester Medical Center and co-principal investigator on the study.
The University is conducting its first clinical trial to evaluate the CBBCT against conventional mammography, which is the best technology currently available and universally accessible to women, but is only 85 percent accurate in most cases.
Researchers began by screening 20 volunteers, who had normal mammograms. The goal was to simply demonstrate whether the CBBCT could adequately image the breast. An additional group of women were scanned because they had either palpable masses or suspicious mammograms. In those cases, researchers compared the CBBCT to the typical diagnostic imaging workup, to assess cancerous and benign abnormalities before a biopsy was done. In this group, researchers discovered that the CBBCT images could delineate breast disease as well as mammography.
The pilot study will continue until 60 participants are enrolled. A larger clinical trial is planned for 2007.
SOURCES:
Radiological Society of North America meeting,
University of