A new high-tech tool could help doctors spot breast cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society breast cancer is the most common type of cancer that effects women. One in four women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year according to 2010 statistics. However, the survival rate for women five years after being diagnosed is close to 90%.
Now researchers hope that number can inch a little higher as a new piece of technology is approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Selenia Dimensions System is the first X-ray mammography device that provides a 3-D scan of the breast.
According to an FDA press release, “A mammogram is a safe, low-dose X-ray of the breast that is the best tool for early detection of breast cancer. However, with the limitations of conventional two-dimensional (2-D) imaging, about 10 percent of women undergo additional testing after the initial screening exam for abnormalities that are later determined to be noncancerous.”
Before approving this new system, the FDA ran tests to make sure it could improve a doctors ability to detect cancer. Radiologists were asked to review 2-D and 3-D images from 300 mammography exams. The results showed a 7% improvement in the ability to distinguish cancerous growths from non-cancerous growths.
“
Physicians can now access this unique and innovative 3-D technology that could significantly enhance existing diagnosis and treatment approaches,” said Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
Breast cancer stats:
* Breast cancer incidence and death rates generally
increase with age.
*During 2002-2006, women aged 20-24 had the lowest
incidence rate, 1.4 cases per 100,000 women; women
aged 75-79 had the highest incidence rate, 441.9
cases per 100,000.
*White women have a higher incidence of breast
cancer than African American women beginning at
age 45.
*Stats according to the American Cancer Society.
