Advancements In Digital Mammography For Breast Cancer A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study

Abstract

Background: Film-screen mammography has been replaced by digital mammography that can accurately diagnose breast cancer in the early stage. This advanced technology is so useful especially in dense breast tissue, which greatly affect other forms. The added use of DBT and artificial intelligence in the analysis of the image adds to it even more, by minimizing false positive cases and improving diagnostic yield.
Objectives: evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of DM and compare and contrast its performance to that of conventional methods.
Study Design : A Cross sectional Study.
Place and duration of Study. Department of  Radiology Qazi Hussain Ahmad Hospital Nowshera Kpk from 05 Jan-2022 to 05 March 2022
Methods: A cross-sectional study was used with 150 patients with breast cancer screening. Patients had both screen film and full field digital mammograms done and the films were read by two different radiologists. Sensitivity levels, specificity, and detection rate of early-stage cancer were also measured. Statistical software was used to analyze the data with checks for significance of findings made using standard deviation (SD) together with p-value.
Results: The digital mammography achieved a sensitivity of 91% (SD = ±3.5) and has improved from 78% (SD = ±4.2) using the traditional methods, this difference indicated a highly significant difference at p < 0.01. In breast cancer screening, 43 early-stage cancers were identified when digital mammography was employed compared with only 29 using routine methods. Specificity rates also increased, which decreased unnecessary biopsies that were performed previously from clinics.
Conclusions: From this  Study, it can be concluded that digital mammography greatly improves the specificity and sensitivity of the first stage of breast cancer examination compared to traditional methods, particularly in cases of dense breast tissue. That is why its inclusion into the list of standard screening tests would have a positive effect on the results for patients and decrease the instances of false positive results, thus optimising the pathways to patient management.