New Mammography System with Lower Radiation

A new mammography system being developed is based on new digital technology that promises the same high image quality as film-based systems but with radiation doses that are five times lower. The new system will be marketed by Sectra AB (Linkoping, Sweden).

Film-based mammography systems require high radiation exposure to achieve the image quality required for interpretation, says Sectra. In contrast, its new technology facilitates detection and signal processing of every individual x-ray image directly on a silicon chip, thereby providing optimal utilization of all information from the x-ray images. By using only 95% of x-ray emissions, radiation doses can be reduced to one-fifth of the dose required for film-processing methods. Other digital mammography systems available today require radiation doses up to 10 times that of Sectra's system to achieve equivalent image quality, states the company.

The new technology was originally developed by a group of researchers working in particle physics at CERN (Geneva, Switzerland). Refinements and continued development work were done by Mamea Imaging AB and the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden). Sectra plans to begin clinical trials of the new mammography system during the second quarter of 2001.

"Early detection of breast cancer through mammography screening can reduce breast cancer mortality, but it is also important to optimize test methods in terms of image quality and radiation exposure,” said Ingvar Andersson, chief senior physician of Sweden's National Social Welfare Board.