Breast Imaging Software Helps Identify Cancers

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A software program that helps determine the stiffness of a breast lump may help some women avoid unnecessary breast biopsies, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

They said the technique called elastography, which is used in tandem with a standard ultrasound, correctly identified 98 percent of cancers in women who had an ultrasound to evaluate a suspicious lump in their breast.

It also correctly ruled out breast cancer in 78 percent of women whose lumps were later found to be harmless, Dr. Stamatia Destounis of Elizabeth Wende Breast Care in Rochester, New York told reporters at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.

"The addition of elastography could potentially help decrease the need to perform a biopsy or could reduce the need for additional imaging, thus reducing the anxiety and stress on the patient and also the financial hardship that unnecessary biopsy procedures may cause," Destounis told the meeting.

That might help ease some of the concerns about routine mammography screening, which can result in excess biopsies, especially in women who get regular mammograms starting at age 40.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force earlier this month recommended against routine breast mammograms for women in their 40s to spare them from some of the worry and expense of extra tests to distinguish between cancer and harmless lumps. About 80 percent of breast biopsies find harmless or benign lumps.

AVOIDING BIOPSIES

Often, when a mammogram turns up a suspicious spot, women get a breast ultrasound, which uses sound waves to create pictures of internal structures of the breast.

"The problem with ultrasound is that it is very sensitive. It will find it for us, but it is not specific enough. It doesn't tell us if that is a benign lesion or a cancerous lesion," Destounis said.

She said many ultrasound machines have elastography software, which can also measure the stiffness of a breast lump.