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Healthwatch 16: 3D Mammograms Could Be Key in Early Detection

MAHONING TOWNSHIP — When it comes to mammography and breast health, this area is lucky to be so advanced. Karen Williams of Coal Township has had a mammog...
mammography

MAHONING TOWNSHIP -- When it comes to mammography and breast health, this area is lucky to be so advanced.

Karen Williams of Coal Township has had a mammogram every year since she turned 40. She's 52 now, and she's just had her first 3D mammogram. She says it felt the same as the typical 2D mammogram she's had in years past.

“Hopefully they can see things they couldn't see before,” said Williams.

At Geisinger Medical Center near Danville, technician Jessica Davis says they do see things they couldn't see before, especially in women who have dense breast tissue, like Karen.

Tomosynthesis, as it's called, allows a breast to be seen in slices, layers a technician can scroll through. That allows them to see smaller tumors faster and reduces the amount of call-back mammograms a woman may need.

At Geisinger Mount Pleasant in Scranton, Dr. John Farrell examined someone's baseline mammogram. It’s her first because she turned 40 and not because she felt a lump. A bright white dot on the image is a calcification. Dr. Farrell says most women have them, and most are benign. It's another spot that got his attention right away.

“Something like this you may miss entirely on a 2D film, where here is the ability to scroll through and say that looks funny,” Dr. Farrell said.

As far as the patient's experience goes, there's not much difference between 2D and 3D. There is the same feeling of breast compression, same amount of time. The x-ray tube moves around the patient.

Dr. Farrell points out traditional 2D mammography is still a good, useful test and is still the standard of care, but he thinks the newer 3D technology will catch on.

“In 2016, the best tool we have to cure cancer is early detection. 3D mammography is ground breaking and a game changer because it lets us do that better,” he explained.

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