According to a new study, published in the online edition and January issue of Radiology, the combination between x-ray screening and optical imaging may help the radiologists to identify cancers from benign lesions in the breast.
At Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, researchers gave a hand in upgrading a new system combining optical and x-ray imaging which can have the breast structural and functional information. The technologies used were digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), a three-dimensional application of mammography" href="/tag/digital-mammography.html">digital mammography, and diffuse optical tomography (DOT), which indicated the level of concentration of hemoglobin, oxygen saturation and other cellular characteristics.
Dr. Qianqian Fang, PhD a radiology instructor at Harvard Medical Sc and the research leader said, "By co-registering optical and x-ray data, radiologists are able to map suspicious findings and analyze the functional characteristics of those areas." During the study, 189 women breasts’ in the 50s have been tested by combined DBT and DOT. The trial was conducted by attaching the DBT unit with an optical source and detector probes, while the breast is compressed; the optical data has been acquired. Then, and without changing the breast compression, they removed the probes, and a DBT scan was done.
The results were 138 negative and 51 showed an evidence of lesions, 26 of them were malignant, and 25 benign, according to the breast biopsy. Dr.Fang said, "By providing additional differentiation of malignant and benign lesions combined optical and x-ray imaging could potentially reduce unnecessary biopsies. Although cysts are easy to diagnose using ultrasound, distinguishing cysts from malignant or benign lesions during a mammogram would save women the anxiety and costs associated with a second procedure. We are hopeful that this combined system may help improve the efficiency and diagnostic accuracy of breast screening."
