Digital Mammogram

Digital Mammography

One of the most recent advances in x-ray mammography is digital mammography. Digital (computerized) mammography is similar to standard mammography in that x-rays are used to produce detailed images of the breast. Digital mammography uses essentially the same mammography system as conventional mammography, but the system is equipped with a digital receptor and a computer instead of a film cassette. Several studies have demonstrated that digital mammography is at least as accurate as standard mammography.



Digital Mammogram

Digital spot view mammography allows faster and more accurate stereotactic biopsy. In addition to spot-view digital mammography, the FDA has approved a "full-field" digital mammography system to screen for and diagnose breast cancer. With continued improvements, the "full-field" mammography systems may eventually replace traditional mammography.

How Does Digital Mammography Differ From Standard Mammography?
In standard mammography, images are recorded on film using an x-ray cassette. To date, studies of digital mammography and standard film mammography have shown that digital mammography is "comparable" to film mammography in terms of detecting breast cancer. Other data from German researchers suggest that the radiation dose can be reduced by up to 50% with digital mammography and still detect breast cancer as well as the standard radiation dose of film mammography. Digital mammography systems cost approximately 1.5 to 4 times as much as standard film mammography systems. In the near future, digital mammography may provide many benefits over standard film mammography.




Promising Developments in Digital Mammography

As stated earlier, preliminary results of the Digital Mammographic Screening Trial (DMIST), released in September 2005, show that digital mammography may be more accurate at detecting breast cancer in some women than standard film mammography. According to the study results, digital and standard film mammography had similar accuracy rates for many women. The data compared hard copies of digital breast images on film to conventional mammography films finding that digital mammography is as effective at detecting breast cancer as standard film mammograms.

Disadvantages to Digital Mammography
While digital mammography is quite promising, it still has additional hurdles to undergo before it replaces conventional mammography.

Digital mammography must:
provide higher detail resolution (as standard mammography does)
become less expensive (digital mammography is currently several times more costly than conventional mammography) provide a method to efficiently compare digital mammogram images with existing mammography films on computer monitors.

While full-field digital mammography may lack the spatial resolution of film, clinical trials have shown digital mammography to be at least equivalent to standard film screening mammography. Various manufacturers are trying to develop digital mammography systems with detail resolution equivalent to standard film mammography while also providing the benefits of digital mammography noted above.

The high cost of digital mammography is a major obstacle. Digital mammography systems costs roughly 1.5 to 4 times as much as standard mammography equipment.

The September 23, Imaginis report, "Study: Digital Mammography Better Than Standard Mammography at Detecting Breast Cancer in Some Women," is available at http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/news/news12.01.00.asp