MedWire News: European scientists have developed a new X-ray technique for detecting breast cancer that is more accurate than current X-ray mammography and may lead to the earlier detection of breast tumours.

X-ray mammography is currently the most widely used method of detecting breast cancer, but it fails to detect 10–20% of tumours. This is because some breasts are denser than others and this dense tissue may mask some developing tumours.

Dr Jani Keyriläinen, from Turku University Central Hospital in Finland, and team explain that better results are obtained using an X-ray scanning technique called computed tomography, which produces accurate 3D images of the entire breast, improving the detection of early cancer in dense breasts.

However, they add that its use in breast imaging is limited by the relatively high levels of radiation involved in technique.

But the team say that they have now overcome this problem with a new computed tomography technique that produces highly accurate images of the breast using only a quarter of the radiation dose used in conventional mammography.

Furthermore, in tests, the new technique produced even more accurate images than conventional computed tomography.

“We can clearly distinguish more microcalcifications − small deposits of minerals which can indicate the presence of a cancer − than with radiography methods and improve the definition of their shapes and margins,” explained Dr Keyriläinen.

“If we compare the images with X-ray mammograms and conventional computed tomography images, we can confirm that this technique performs extremely well.”

The researchers hope that the current development of compact, highly intense X-ray sources will enable the use of this technique in hospitals and other centres in the near future.

“With these machines it would definitely be possible to apply this technique to clinical practice, and, in this way, contribute actively to a more efficient detection of breast cancer,” concluded co-researcher Dr Alberto Bravin, from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. The research is published in the journal Radiology.