Newer technologies in breast cancer imaging: Dedicated cone-beam breast CT

摘要

Dedicated breast computed tomography (CT) is the latest in a long history of breast imaging techniques dating back to the 1960s. Breast Imaging is performed both for cancer screening as well as for diagnostic evaluation of symptomatic patients. Dedicated breast CT received United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) approval for diagnostic use in 2015 and is slowly gaining recognition for its value in diagnostic 3D imaging of the breast, and also for injected contrast-enhanced imaging applications. Conventional mammography has known limitations in sensitivity and specificity, especially in dense breasts. Breast Tomosynthesis was US FDA approved in 2011 and is now widely used. Dedicated breast CT is the next technological advance, combining real 3D imaging with the ease of contrast administration. The lack of painful compression and manipulation of the breasts also makes dedicated breast CT much more acceptable for the patients.