AMERICAN RADIOLOGY SERVICES

Digital Mammography

By: Cecilia M. Brennecke, M.D.

Your mammogram is now digital. What does that mean, and why is it an improvement?

Mammography is an x-ray image of the breast. Until recently, mammograms were performed using film, just as some personal cameras use film. Now these cameras use digital technology, and so does American Radiology Services.

What are the benefits of digital? The technology enables radiologists to detect tiny structures, such as microcalcifications, more clearly on the digital image than the film image. Once it is taken, the image can be enlarged, which was not possible with film. Also, the patient's stay in the mammography office is generally shorter, because there is no need to wait for the image to be developed. Rather, the digital image is available immediately and sent directly to monitors in the radiologist's office.

There are other advantages to digital mammography. There may be less need for additional mammographic views. The digital images can be sent from one site to another, allowing radiologists to interpret exams from another location. If "hard-copy" images are needed, they can be printed easily, as many times as necessary. The "original" images cannot be lost, as was an issue with film images. Digital storage is more efficient than storage of film.

Digital mammography also enables the radiologist to supplement an initial reading with Computer Aided Detection. This is a "second look" after the images have been viewed by the radiologist. The computer may detect a finding that the radiologist overlooked and, in this way, improves our ability to detect breast cancer. This is possible only with a digital image.

Having a digital mammogram also improves the patient's experience in some important ways. The patient's breast still is compressed in a similar manner. The same number of standard views is taken in the same way. However, the technologist has the image immediately on a monitor in the room, so she can tell if the image is satisfactory for interpretation, and the x-ray dose is approximately 40% lower, a significant reduction.

Breast cancer is the highest cause of death in women ages 40 to 55 and the second highest in all other ages. With the use of digital mammography, we have enhanced our ability to detect more of these cancers at an earlier stage.