Three-dimensional (3D) mammography, also know as tomosynthesis, is a state-of-the-art service available at Door County Medical Center.
3D Mammography imaging is a type of digital mammography that, instead of taking a flat 2D image of breast tissue, creates a 3D image from a composite formed of image layers. One common way to describe the process is to compare the 3D image to the pages of a book, allowing doctors to examine breast tissue layer by layer.
“I am incredibly excited that we have this technology,” says DCMC’s Diagnostic Imaging Director, Amanda Feldbruegge, “Because of the greater detail that 3D mammography provides, the early detection rate is far higher. So, we are going to be able to detect cancers much sooner, and at a much smaller size. As a result, doctors will be able to start treatment sooner—we can catch the disease at stage 1 rather than at stage 3 or 4.”
Fewer Cancers Missed
As many as 20 percent of breast cancers will be missed by 2D mammography. 3D mammography has been shown to detect on average 41% more invasive breast cancers than 2D mammography.
Less invasive treatments
Catching cancer early means less invasive treatments. The likelihood of a mastectomy is greatly reduced, the number of unnecessary biopsies is reduced and the radiation dose is the same as a 2D machine.
Reduced Callback Rate
3D mammography results in fewer false positives and fewer callbacks. In 2016, DCMC performed 3,200 mammograms. According to Ms. Feldbreugge, “With 2D mammography, our call back rate was around 10%. We expect our callback rate to decrease, probably down to something near 5%…” According to numerous studies, 3D mammography can reduce callbacks by as much as 40%.
Even though it has been estimated that a woman born in the United States today has a 1 in 8 chance of developing some form of breast cancer during their lifetime, the five-year survival rate is nearly 100% when breast cancer is detected early.
Contact Door County Medical Center to schedule your mammogram today.