Technique boosts clarity of breast tumour images

Researchers have developed a new technique that will enable doctors to view a 3D image of a breast tumour.

Experts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have worked with European colleagues in order to develop 3D images of breast tissue that are two to three times sharper than those currently made using CT scanners at hospitals.

It was noted in the report that the technique also uses a lower dose of X-ray radiation than a mammogram and this means breast tumours could be detected a lot earlier and with more accuracy than they are at the present time.

"A three-dimensional view of the breast can be generated by a CT scan, but this is not frequently used clinically, as it requires a larger dose of radiation than a mammogram," said Jianwei Miao, a UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and researcher with the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.

Dr Xuehong Zhang, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, recently carried out research showing blood hormone levels predict long-term breast cancer risk for postmenopausal women.

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