Synthesized mammography not ready on its own for masses

Sunday, December 1 | 10:50 a.m.-11:00 a.m. | SSC13-03 | Room S503AB

Synthesized 2D mammography isn't ready to be used as standalone technology when it comes to finding breast masses, according to research that will be presented Sunday morning.

Presenter Liesbeth Vancoillie of Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium will share findings from a study that compared the detectability of masses on digital mammography, digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), and synthesized 2D mammography for five vendors using a 3D phantom.

The study included the following systems:

• Fujifilm Medical Systems's Amulet Innovality ST
• GE Healthcare's Senographe Pristina
• Hologic's Selenia Dimensions
• Internazionale Medico Scientifica's (IMS) Giotto Class
• Siemens Healthineers' Mammomat Revelation

The researchers found that for the systems by GE, IMS, and Siemen, DBT performed significantly better than synthesized mammography. For Fuji's and Hologic's systems, they found no significant difference between DBT and synthesized mammography.

Detection of mass-like lesions was higher in DBT compared with digital mammography and synthesized mammography, except for Fuji and Hologic, for which synthesized mammography was not different from DBT, the team concluded.

For most vendors, synthesized mammography, "in its current stage of development, cannot be recommended as a standalone modality if equal mass detectability as in DBT is required," the researchers noted.