Spotlighting Breast Tomosynthesis Technology at ECR

Also at this year’s meeting, Siemens put the spotlight on its new breast tomosynthesis technology that improves the precision of breast image assessment. Talking to Medical Imaging International, Shane Williams, Head of Outbound Marketing, Women’s Health at Siemens Healthcare (Erlangen, Germany) discussed how image quality is essential in the early detection of breast cancer.

“Conventional mammography provides individual 2D images of the breast so the tissue overlaps. With tomosynthesis we take multiple images from different angles over a 50-degree sweep and these images are recombined, similar to a CT scanner, to create slices as opposed to a projection image. These slices allow removal of the overlapping tissue and makes the tumors far more visible, facilitating diagnosis.”

The 50-degree angle is the widest angle of all vendors and has the largest number of individual images totaling 25 in all. This enables us to reduce the effect of the overlapping tissue more than any other vendor. Mr. Williams pointed out, highlighting the uniqueness of the product.

Launched at the ECR, Siemens now have High Definition Breast Tomosynthesis. This includes Empire Technology (Enhanced Multiple Parameter Iterative Reconstruction) and allows the slices to be reconstructed more precisely with the help of new algorithms. “This enables us to make the most of the wide angle data acquired by the system” explained Mr. Williams. Also new is Insight 2D. This is a 2D image produced from the 3D tomosynthesis data. This can be used instead of a conventional mammography image and thus reduce X-ray radiation dose during breast exams. Insight is also the first and only with 2D and well as 3D images, making it easier to identify the shape and distribution of more complex tumors.

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