3D mammography also known as digital breast tomosynthesis, is an FDA-approved advanced technology that takes multiple images, or X-rays, of breast tissue to recreate a 3-dimensional picture of the breast.  3D mammography is very safe where the radiation exposure to the breast is very low.

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A 3D mammogram is used to look for breast cancer in people who have no signs or symptoms. It can also be used to investigate the cause of breast problems, such as a breast mass, pain and nipple discharge.

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Advantages of combining a 3D mammogram with a standard 2D mammogram:

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• Higher accuracy: 3D mammography makes a tumour easier to see as the impact of the overlapping breast tissue is minimized. Studies showed that 3D mammography can detect 34% more breast cancer in screening than conventional 2D mammography.  Combining a 3D mammogram with a standard mammogram can result in about one more breast cancer detected for every 1,000 women screened when compared with standard mammogram alone.

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• Enhance breast cancer detection in dense breast tissue: Dense breast tissue can hide tumours in traditional 2D mammography due to the shadows from the overlapping tissue. As 3D mammography requires images of the breast to be acquired from various angles, superior examination of the breast tissue can then be made. This eventually results in better breast cancer detection in dense breast tissue. 

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• Earlier detection:  As 3D Mammogram allows the images or slices to be evaluated one by one where the impact of the overlapping tissue in hiding small cancers can be minimized, this could also potentially allow earlier breast cancer detection compared to conventional mammography.

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• Less false alarms: In view of the improved accuracy of the 3D view, it helps to reduce false alarms and unnecessary callbacks to women for additional scans and biopsies which cause great inconvenience and anxiety.