BIRADS classification in breast tomosynthesis compared to mammography and ultrasonography

This paper presents the Malmo Breast tomosynthesis project The tomosynthesis equipment is described as well as the patient selection and image acquisition. Special fucus is given to one of the studies of the project, which is a comparison of the diagnostic performance between breast tomosynthesis (BT), digital mammography (DM) and ultrasonography (US): tumor classification according to the BIRADS system was performed on 40 cancers imaged with DM, US and BT. The patients were selected on the basis of subtle signs of breast cancer on DM or negative findings on the basis of subtle signs of breast cancer on DM or negative findings on DM but suspicious lesions on US. The BIRADS scores based on the BT images were significantly higher than 1-view DM and 2-view DM, and equal 2-view DM, and equal to 2-view plus US. The results suggest that BT may be a suitable technique for breast cancer screening.