Clinical Trial to Test Whole-Breast Ultrasound Technology

A cancer center in the US is set to begin a clinical trial, part of research project to test the effectiveness of a new whole-breast ultrasound technology.

The researchers recruited women with dense breast tissue, and intend to examine the effectiveness of the new breast ultrasound device that could help clinicians distinguishing normal breast tissue from cancerous tumors. The new technology is also more comfortable than current mammography scans.

The new SoftVue, the first 3D whole-breast ultrasound system ever developed, was made by Delphinus Medical Technologies (Novi, MI, USA). The research project and clinical trial are run by the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (USC; Los Angeles, CA; USA).

The new ultrasound technology consists of a 360-degree ring transducer that can scan the whole breast in one pass, from the front of the breast, to the chest wall, and takes only between two and four minutes to scan each breast. The SoftVue software also shows a number of distinct tissue qualities that could help radiologists differentiate cancers from benign growths.

Assistant professor of clinical radiology, the national principal investigator of the research project Mary Yamashita, MD, said, "While mammography is the best screening tool for women, we have known for years that breast cancers are much more difficult to see in women with dense breasts. Our hope is that this technology will enable us to detect cancers much sooner in women with dense breast tissue so that we can provide better outcomes for those with cancer and peace of mind for those with a negative study."