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Findings in mastectomy specimens indicate that cone-beam CT is faster and potentially more accurate than conventional mammography in breast examination, according to initial studies by Houston-based researchers. Findings in mastectomy specimens indicate that cone-beam CT is faster and potentially more accurate than conventional mammography in breast examination, according to initial studies by Houston-based researchers.

"Cone-beam breast CT," lead investigator Dr. Wei Tse Yang told Reuters Health, "has the ability to provide true 3D images of the breast that may aid in differentiating abnormalities from background breast tissue, and can be applied to screening and diagnostic breast imaging."

As described in the December issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology, Dr. Yang and colleagues at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center examined the feasibility of the approach, which uses a flat panel detector and a cone-beam CT scanning system to provide 3D images of the breast.

The scanner is placed below a table and rotates around the axis of an opening in the table. In practice, the patient would lay face down with one breast drawn down into the opening.

"The multiplanar high-resolution surveys it provides are at a radiation dose comparable to routine mammography," continued Dr. Yang. "Actual scanning time using this method is less than one minute compared with 40 minutes for breast MRI, and ten minutes for mammography."

Moreover, observed Dr. Yang, "the discomfort associated with compression during mammography and the problem of claustrophobia during MRI are not an issue with cone-beam breast CT."

In the current study, the researchers tested the accuracy of the system using 12 mastectomy specimens. They found that structural noise was minimal because of the absence of overlapping tissue on the 3D images, which allowed better detection of cancer based on morphological assessment of tissue structure than is possible with conventional mammography.

The researchers call for further studies to better define the role of the approach.