CT Scan Creates 3D Breast Images Without Using Compression

Dense breast tissue is hard to image with a standard mammogram, but a new technology is working to improve breast screening. A cone beam breast CT scanner is being used in a study at the University of Rochester in New York. To get the image, a woman lies facedown on an exam table, and places her breast through a hole. Her breast is not compressed while it is imaged in three dimensions by the CT scanner. The resulting image is stored in a computer, which recreates the internal structure of all her breast tissue as a 3D image, which the radiologist can rotate and zoom in on, for a thorough virtual exam. Dr. Avice O'Connell, who leads the study, says, "In certain people with the difficult type of breast, it may indeed improve the detection of small cancers."

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