A Better Breast Cancer Scan

For the longest time, women aged 40 to 70 have been encouraged to get a mammogram in order to detect abnormal changes in their breasts as early as possible. And every year many do – and many more have done it and choose not to repeat the procedure.

One big reason women give for dropping out of the regular examination routine is that it just plain hurts! The pain of having the breast compressed by the compression plate to obtain a better image is not insignificant.

A Swedish doctoral student, Magnus Dustler, may have a solution for those discouraged by the pain-filled process. He has done a thorough engineering analysis of the procedure and posits that it is far from certain that strong compression of the breast results in an image which improves the doctors’ possibilities for diagnosis. In fact, his numbers show that “reducing compression by half has little effect on how the pressure is distributed over the central areas of the breast. And they are the ones which are most important for cancer diagnosis.”

The less-painful solution lay in the use of flexible compression plates, he argues. These would adapt to the inclination of the breasts and distribute the pressure in a more advantageous fashion.

“Flexible plates therefore enable better image quality without increased compression force. One can also choose to be satisfied with existing image quality and in that case reduce the compression force and the pain”, explains Dustler.

Another issue plaguing the breast-checking industry is the large number of women who are recalled for examinations unnecessarily. The reality is that only 10 to 20 percent of the women who are recalled due to suspected changes in their breasts have cancer. For the other 80 to 90 percent, the whole ordeal just generates needless anxiety, not to mention a drain on healthcare system.

Dustler proposes to reduce the the number of recalls by adding a pressure measurement functionality to the breast plates. Since cancer cells are significantly stiffer than the surrounding breast tissue and fat, conclusions may be drawn from the measurement data about potential tumors in the breast.

“The results indicate that it could be possible to set a threshold value: women who exceed this threshold would undergo additional investigation. However, the method is not yet ready for clinical application,” says Magnus Dustler.

Dustler recently presented his work at Lund University.