Mammograms in Stereo

Ivanhoe Broadcast News

ATLANTA, Ga. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- This year, 200,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Many more will see their doctor for an annual mammogram screening. Now, doctors at Emory University in Atlanta are testing a new diagnostic tool that cuts false positive results by almost half and could give doctors a whole new way to detect abnormalities.

When Dr. Carl D'Orsi puts on these glasses, he sees mammograms in a way they've never been seen before.

"It's sort of a 'Wow' factor when you first look at it," says Carl D'Orsi, M.D., a radiologist at the Emory Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, Ga.

He's the first doctor in the United States to test a new diagnostic tool called stereoscopic digital mammography. Instead of seeing a mammogram as a flat picture, this technique fuses two images to show the breast in 3D. Polarized glasses bring the images together.

"All of a sudden, you have depth. All of a sudden, you can tell what's behind something, what's in front of something, what depth something is at. It's like, 'Oh my God, this is like I'm seeing the world," Dr. D'Orsi says.

In a three-year Emory University study, stereo mammography found more abnormalities and reduced false positive test results by 39-percent compared to standard mammograms. Stereo also had 79-percent accuracy, while standard mammograms had 57-percent.

Dr. D'Orsi says for patients, this diagnostic tool could mean quicker diagnosis, fewer recalls for more testing, less anxiety. Marilyn Cook knows mammograms all too well and what the waiting and worrying can be like.

"If they can prevent other women from having to be recalled, you know, for a second one and a third one and ultrasound, what an amazing process is that?" Cook says.

She was lucky. A mammogram led to early diagnosis and treatment of her breast cancer. Now, Cook worries about her daughters' future and hopes breakthroughs like stereo mammography can mean more success stories like her own.

"Two years and a couple of months -- cancer free. Survivor. I'm a survivor," Cook says.

Stereo mammography is still in the testing stages. But Dr. D'Orsi believes it holds a great deal of promise for future breast cancer screening.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:                            

Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University

(404) 778-1900

http://www.cancer.emory.edu

Last updated 3/14/2008.

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