New Mammogram Analysis Technique May Detect Cancer Earlier

A new way of analyzing mammograms may enable doctors to diagnose breast cancer earlier and more accurately, according to researchers at the Cancer Research Campaign in England.

The findings may also mean less extensive surgery for women diagnosed with breast cancer by detecting tumors as small as one millimeter, 10 times smaller than those detected by traditional mammography, according to the findings of the research being done at the University of Oxford, the Churchill Hospital in Oxford and the Royal Free Hospital in London.

The new technology eliminates several of the uncertainties of traditional mammograms as it allows doctors to quantify exactly how much dense tissue is in the breast.

"A mammogram shows a lump as a bright patch on a grainy background," said Michael Brady, co-researcher on the project. "But that same patch will look different on another machine. It will look different if a different x-ray film is used, or if it is developed differently. It will change even if the same machine is used, but someone else takes the picture. In other words, the exact size of that patch is a guess, and so is the size of the tumor it represents."

"We have found a way of eliminating all these variations and leaving only the interesting information -- the size of a patch of dense breast tissue," continued Brady. "By using our method, a bright patch will always look the same, and we can say exactly how much dense breast tissue is there, in millimeters rather than in levels of gray."

Researchers are currently conducting a trial involving 500 healthy women. They will screen the women twice over two years to make up a picture of how the distribution of dense breast tissue varies normally over time. As some of the women are likely to develop breast cancer, researchers will analyze the second scans against the first scans to try to find changes that might provide a clue about why a particular woman develops cancer.

'We believe that there will be a common pattern to the mammograms of women who go on to develop breast cancer, and that even the tiniest patches may indicate increased risk," said Brady. "Based on our study, doctors will then be able to examine mammograms more thoroughly to look for the early signs."

Researchers are especially anxious to see the results in women taking hormone replacement therapy and its effects on the distribution of dense breast tissue.

Other Sources: Cancer Research Campaign