From the July 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine



Digital breast tomosynthesis scanners from Hologic, GE Healthcare and Siemens Healthineers are all capable of providing the synthesized 2-D image.

Other clinicians have similarly shown that the synthesized 2-D image is adequate.

For a study published in the journal Radiology in February, researchers at the Christiana Care Health System’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute looked at more than 32,000 women screened with just mammography, more than 30,000 screened with a combination of tomosynthesis and mammography and more than 16,000 women screened using the synthesized 2-D mammography over five years, a much larger sample size than previous studies.



The recall rate for synthesized 2-D mammography was 4.3 percent, compared to 5.8 percent for tomosynthesis and mammography and 8.7 percent for the 2-D mammography alone. More than 76 percent of invasive cancers were detected using synthesized 2-D mammography, versus more than 61 percent for tomosynthesis and mammography.

Using the synthesized 2-D mammography also decreased the radiation dose between 40 and 45 percent, says Dr. Jacqueline S. Holt, director of breast imaging at the Christiana Care Health System’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute.

“I was hoping that this article showing performance in a real-world setting would tilt the dials,” Holt says. “The dose is down to where digital [mammography] was, plus we have the benefit of the 3-D images, plus we have the 2-D image. I think that this will be the new normal mammogram.”

July 2017 Magazine

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