Digital Tomosynthesis

The American Cancer Society ( ACS ) recommended that women at high risk for cancer undergo annual mammogram with annual breast MRI. It was found that breast MRI along with mammogram can help in the detection of cancer in certain women with high risk at an early stage. In breast MRI scanning studies, once cancer is suspected it has to be reviewed and interpreted by breast MRI CAD. Here there is a chance of high false positives, which are the negative points of breast MRI. To reduce the false positive recall rates, a reliable means in the detection of breast cancer called tomosynthesis has been recommended.

Tomosynthesis gives high quality digital images. The images are captured and processed with a simple tube motion. It is similar to CT detector which does a complete 360 degrees rotation. The CT detector gives a complete set of data from which images are obtained and the images may be reconstructed. The tomosynthesis technique belongs to the category of geometric or linear tomography.

In digital thomosynthesis a small rotation angle is used when compared to tomosynthesis which uses 360 degree rotation which is used in CT. It is an imaging technique in which multiple x-rays of the same object are taken from a discrete number of angles. These are cross-sectional images, which are taken to reconstruct 3-D images of the object which is being scanned. In screening digital tomosynthesis, two x-ray images are taken of each breast. In tomosynthesis low dose multiple images are taken from different angles around the breast. Both digital tomosynthesis and tomosynthesis are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

The advantages of digital tomosynthesis over conventional mammograms are that they are comfortable, minimal pressure is used, lower radiation dose is required up to 50% and it is better for dense breast tissues, the cost of Digital tomosynthesis is also expected to be less than the conventional mammogram. Digital tomosynthesis is expected to replace the conventional mammogram due to the fact it helps in the detection of breast cancer as well as it improves the patients procedure.