OnCo
technologiesTechnologyStandard of care

Mammography & tomosynthesis

Low-dose breast X-ray used for screening. Newer 3D versions find more cancers with fewer false alarms.

Population mammographic screening reduces breast cancer mortality by roughly 20% in screened women. Digital breast tomosynthesis (3D) improves detection in dense breasts. Contrast-enhanced mammography approaches MRI sensitivity at lower cost. AI reading (Transpara, Lunit, Mirai risk model) is being deployed at scale in Europe.

Schematic · not to scale
Low-dose X-ray tube · Compression paddle · Microcalcification / mass

How it works

Low-energy X-rays compress and image the breast; tomosynthesis acquires multiple angles and reconstructs slices.

Strengths
  • Proven mortality benefit
  • Cheap and scalable
Limitations
  • Reduced sensitivity in dense breasts
  • Overdiagnosis of indolent lesions

Key papers

1top
rctLancet Oncology 2023
MASAI: AI-supported mammography screening finds more cancers with half the radiologist workload

AI can take over one reader's work in double-reading screening programmes while finding more cancers. Whether the extra cancers found are ones that would have harmed women, and whether interval cancers fall, is the question the trial's primary endpoint will answer.

Latest papers

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Literature trend1,863 papers in the last 12 months+8% vs prior 12How this is computed
Latest papers · live from Europe PMC
Open in Europe PMC

Query for this technology: (TITLE:"mammography" OR ABSTRACT:"mammography" OR TITLE:"digital breast tomosynthesis" OR ABSTRACT:"digital breast tomosynthesis" OR TITLE:"breast cancer screening" OR ABSTRACT:"breast cancer screening"). Results are unfiltered search hits about Mammography & tomosynthesis, not a curated reading list.

Connected

37top

cancers

4
HER2-positive breast cancerHodgkin lymphomaHR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancerTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)

fronts

2
Early Detection & ScreeningImaging

technologies

2
AI in radiologyMirai (MIT breast cancer risk from mammograms)

companies

1
Lunit

institutions

5
ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research GroupHospital de Amor (Barretos Cancer Hospital)Kaiser Permanente Division of ResearchNational Cancer Center KoreaTianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital

terms

2
ScreeningStage shift

roadmaps

2
AI in the oncology clinic: from narrow cleared tools to multimodal decision supportEarly detection roadmap: organ screening → blood tests for many cancers

ideas

7
A dedicated fund for randomised trials of cancer AI with patient outcomesAfter the COMET trial: surveillance pathways and a new name for low-risk DCISMandatory subgroup performance reporting for cancer AIOne-stop breast clinics: imaging, biopsy and a preliminary answer in a single visitRequire stage-shift or interval-cancer endpoints for AI in cancer screeningRoll out AI-supported mammography nationally as a stepped-wedge trialSet each woman's mammogram interval from her last mammogram, using AI risk

collections

2
American Cancer Society (ACS)Susan G. Komen

people

7
Betty FordKatie CouricKris HallengaLaura J. EssermanMitchell D. SchnallNancy BrinkerPer Hall

bottlenecks

2
AI that is built but not validated or deployedOverdiagnosis and false alarms

key papers

1
MASAI: AI-supported mammography screening finds more cancers with half the radiologist workload