Digital Breast Tomosynthesis, Latest Evolution of Digital Mammography, Arrives at SFGH!

The UCSF Breast Imaging group is proud to announce the arrival of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT, sometimes informally referred to as "3D mammography") at the Avon Comprehensive Breast Center at San Francisco General Hospital.  This was made possible through a partnership with the UCSF Department of Radiology and represents the first DBT unit to be installed at a UCSF affiliated site!

Dr. Kimberly Ray is the lead interpreting physician at the Avon Breast Center and has been instrumental in helping to bring this new technology to UCSF, as well as set it up for clinical use.  Tomosynthesis is also expected to be installed at UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion within the next several months.   

DBT is the latest evolution of digital mammography, in which a series of low dose projection images are obtained at different angles, creating many thin section images through the breast.  This eliminates the problem of overlapping tissue, which can both hide cancers as well as create summation artifacts, also known as false positives.  DBT has been shown in numerous clinical studies to reduce the false positive screening callback rate while also increasing the cancer detection rate.  Preliminary data also suggests that this technology may especially benefit women with dense breast tissue.

For more information about Women’s Imaging at UCSF locations or to make an appointment, click here!