Clinical Data on Breast Tomosynthesis

Breast tomosynthesis plus digital mammography has been our standard protocol for all screening mammograms since 2014. 

In large study populations to assess the screening performance of breast tomosynthesis in clinical settings, breast tomosynthesis plus digital mammography compared to digital mammography alone was consistently associated with:

• A decrease in recall rates
  • Skaane et al: 15% decrease
  • Rose et al: from 8.7% to 5.5%
  • Haas et al: from 12.0% to 8.4%
  • Friedewald et al: 15% decrease

• An increase in cancer detection rates, especially invasive cancers
  • Friedewald et al: 5.4 compared to 4.2 per 1000 screenings (28% increase) for cancer detection and 4.1 compared to 2.9 per 1000 screenings (41% increase) for invasive cancer detection
  • Skaane et al: 8.0 compared to 6.1 per 1000 screenings (27% increase)
  • Rose et al: 5.4 compared to 4.0 per 1000 screenings 
  • Haas et al: 5.7 compared to 5.2 per 1000 (not statistically significant)

References

Friedwald et al. Breast Cancer Screening Using Tomosynthesis in Combination With Digital Mammography. JAMA. 2014;311(24):2499-2507.

Skaane et al. Comparison of digital mammography alone and digital mammography plus tomosynthesis in a population-based screening program. Radiology. 2013 Apr; 267(1):47-56.

Rose et al. Implementation of breast tomosynthesis in a routine screening practice: an observational study. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2013 Jun; 200(6):1401-8.

Haas et al. Comparison of tomosynthesis plus digital mammography and digital mammography alone for breast cancer screening. Radiology. 2013 Dec; 269(3):694-700.