A pioneering new 3D breast scan is far better at detecting cancerous tumours than traditional screening, research has found.
The technique, which builds a detailed three-dimensional picture of breast tissue, increased detections of invasive cancer by 41 per cent compared with ordinary mammograms.
US scientists found the scan, also known as digital breast tomosynthesis, also led to a 15 per cent drop in patients being unnecessarily recalled due to false alarms.
This image, by Hologic, shows three images, conventional mammography, top left, 3D mammography, top right, with a tumor circled that wasn't visible on the first image, and a close with 3D mammography
Overall, the 3D scan resulted in a 29 per cent higher detection rate for all breast cancers compared with the current system. Study author Dr Emily Conant, from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said: ‘It’s the most exciting improvement to mammography that I have seen in my career, even more important for women than the conversion from film-screen mammography to digital mammography.
‘3D mammography finds more clinically significant breast cancers earlier, which is key so that women have more treatment options and ultimately better health outcomes.’
The research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at nearly half a million conventional and 3D breast scans carried out at across the US.
Baroness Morgan, chief executive of the Breast Cancer Campaign in Britain, said: ‘This is one of the largest studies to date to report that adding tomosynthesis to digital mammography appears to improve the accuracy of breast screening.
These are promising results, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes of adding tomosynthesis to digital mammography in other ongoing trials – particularly the results of the TOMMY trial which aims to assess whether tomosynthesis could enhance digital mammography in the UK.’
The findings of a controversial study linking GM corn and a popular weedkiller to breast cancer have been confirmed.
Trials involving rats given GM corn sprayed with the weedkiller Roundup produced shocking images of the animals with enormous tumours.
Old machine: Overall, the 3D scan resulted in a 29 per cent higher detection rate for all breast cancers compared with the current system
The researchers, from the University of Caen in France, claim the effects of genetic modification on the corn, as well as the chemicals found in Roundup, were implicated in the changes seen in the rats.
The corn was created by US biotech firm Monsanto to be resistant to Roundup, so that the crops can be sprayed with chemicals that kill off any weeds but still grow normally.
Some rats were fed the GM corn, some ate it sprayed with Roundup while others consumed Roundup at low doses. A control group was fed a ‘clean’ diet without GM or Roundup.
After two years, between 50 and 80 per cent of the female rats in all treated groups had developed large tumours, while only 30 per cent of the control group was affected.
The study caused uproar when it was first published two years ago, and was subsequently withdrawn by the journal’s editors following a fierce backlash from pro-GM scientists.
But it has since been peer-reviewed twice more to confirm the research was conducted properly, and is now being republished.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2668610/3D-scan-revolutionise-breast-screening-technique-builds-detailed-picture-tissue-increased-detection-cancer-41-compared-traditional-mammograms.html#ixzz35gE3Cctz
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
