DBT equivalent to FFDM for cancer detection

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) finds and identifies breast cancers just as well as full-field digital mammography (FFDM), according to a study to be presented on Wednesday by researchers from Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Michael Fishman, MD, and colleagues compared the accuracy of the two modalities in finding both noninvasive and invasive breast cancer in a group of 70 women, of whom 35 patients had 40 malignancies. Of the cancers, 19 were invasive, eight were ductal carcinoma in situ, and 13 were both. The average size of the cancers was 2.6 cm.

In terms of false positives, the DBT exams led to three workups on lesions that were later categorized as normal, while FFDM led to two negative biopsies. Both modalities found 38 of the 40 malignancies and predicted tumor size with similar accuracy.