The Role of New Imaging Techniques in Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

Introduction Breast cancer is a heterogenous disease both in morphology and biology. Conventional mammography alone is not good enough in diagnosis of non-invasive and invasive cancers of breast. During last decade a lot of imaging modalities have been developed to help better diagnosis.Method Digital mammography is a specialized form of mammography that uses digital receptors and computers instead of x-ray film to help examine breast tissue for breast cancer. Digital tomosynthesis combines digital image capture and processing with simple tube/detector motion as used in conventional radiographic tomography. MRI scans use magnets and radio waves instead of x-rays to produce very detailed, cross-sectional pictures of the body. Scintimammography is a diagnostic modality using radiopharmaceuticals to provide tumor-specific imaging of the breast. After injection of the radiopharmaceutical, the breast is evaluated with planar or single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT) radionuclide imaging. T-scan uses the electrical impedance principal to detect cancerous tumors.Results Advantages of digital mammography are :lower false positive rates and therefore fewer unnecessary biopsies, reduced radiation exposure for dense breast tissues and better demonstrating of masses and calcifications. In digital tomosynthesis, minimal pressure is needed during the acquisition. This makes the experience less painful, and also reduces compression artifacts in the tissue images. Advantages of MRI are : helpful in patients with difficult mammographic findings, evaluation of breast implants, detecting cancers in young patients with dense breast tissues and characterize small abnormalities missed by mammography. Advantages of Scintimammograph are: improves evaluation of positive mammograms, differentiates between benign and malignant tissue, reduce need for biopsy and increasing accuracy in detection of small lesions . T-scan imaging can also confirm when tumor tissue is benign (non- cancerous).Conclusions new imaging modalities are expected to replace conventional mammography due to the fact that it increases the sensitivity of breast cancer detection, as well as improving the patient procedure.