New Digital Mammography System Approved

TUESDAY, July 18 (HealthDay News) -- Women who are under age 50, are premenopausal, or have thicker breast tissue seem to benefit more from digital mammography than traditional breast cancer detection methods that use film, according to new research involving over 50,000 women.

Results from the U.S. National Cancer Institute study suggest that these women are most likely to benefit from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration''s approval of Fuji''s Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm) system, Fuji said in statement.

While it''s not the first digital mammography device approved by the FDA, it''s about half the price of similar machines, and its design appears to work better, according to a report by ABC News.

"Dense-breasted women tend to be at especially high risk for breast cancer, and they are among the hardest to screen with conventional film X-rays," study lead author Dr. Etta Pisano, Director of the University of North Carolina Biomedical Research Imaging Center, noted in the Fuji statement.

However, the company noted that only about 12 percent of U.S. mammography facilities offer digital technology, due in large part to the cost of the digital machines.

Fuji''s technology works with existing analog machines, forgoing the need to replace the older technology entirely, the company said.

More information

To learn more about the study that compared digital vs. film mammography, visit the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

-- Scott Roberts

Last Updated: July 18, 2006