CAD helps solves riddle of dense breast tissue

Dear AuntMinnie Member,

One of the most vexing problems for breast imaging specialists is dealing with women with dense breast tissue. Conventional x-ray-based mammography provides poor resolution of such tissue, so breast imagers have been developing complementary imaging technologies to fill in the gaps.

One such technology is computer-aided detection (CAD), which is showing promise in dense breast tissue, according to an article by staff writer Shalmali Pal that we're featuring this week in our Women's Imaging Digital Community.

The story examines CAD's performance in two recent research studies, one using x-ray mammography and the other using MR mammography. In x-ray mammography, the study found that CAD can improve cancer detection regardless of breast density.

The MR mammography study focused on using CAD to reduce the high rate of biopsies that occur due to the modality's ability to detect incidental lesions. The researchers found that combining CAD readings with the opinion of a radiologist produced better performance than either working alone.

Read all about both studies by clicking here, or visit our Women's Imaging Digital Community to view the latest research in women's imaging.