Dr. Daniela Bernardi, from Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari (APSS) in Trento, and colleagues compared cancer detection rates in a population breast screening program using four methods: standard digital mammography, standard digital mammography with tomosynthesis, synthetically reconstructed digital mammography, and synthetically reconstructed digital mammography with tomosynthesis.
The study included 3,312 women between the ages of 49 and 70 who were screened between June and November 2013. Twenty-seven cancers were found in 24 women; 19 of these were identified by standard mammography and 21 with standard 2D/3D technology. Synthetic 2D/3D mammography found these 21 cancers, plus six more. Digital mammography alone and synthetic digital mammography alone did not identify any of the cancers.
Because synthetic digital mammography plus tomosynthesis performed at least as well as 2D/3D mammography -- even finding a few more cancers -- it may provide a solution to the problem of double x-ray exposure required in standard 2D/3D mammography, Bernardi and colleagues concluded.
