As a standard diagnostic tool, mammography has been always
used to diagnose breast cancer in women. As mammography results were based on
suspicious findings, it was found that only 30% of lesions turn into
malignancies during the progression of disease. Since younger women carry
breast tissue which is dense in nature, quite often it was the major obstacle
in the standard mammography procedure.
Hence, the expert team of physicians at the cancer center Seattle has developed a
technique which is potential and indeed more reliable in detecting the breast
cancer lesions. This is the new ultrasound procedure and aids in better and
timely diagnosis.
What are the advantages of new ultrasound technique?
All the breast cancer patients undergo a traumatic
experience while the diagnostic tests are being conducted. There could be a
need of biopsies which may later turn out to be the unnecessary ones. This can
be very well avoided using the new ultrasound which is used at the cancer center Seattle as a trusted,
safe and equally economical diagnostic tool.
Apart from this, the physician may ignore extremely small
lesions during hand examination. These small lesions are detected by new
ultrasound. Moreover, differentiating between fluid filled cysts and solid
nodules makes the use of ultrasound more important. Since the new ultrasound determines the
adequate size, shape and margins or edges of the lesion, it gives evidence to
the benign or malignant nature of the lesion.
Can currently practiced ultrasound be equally useful?
Existing ultrasound technique is based on the principle of
interpreting the varying sound waves coming from biological tissues located at
different parts of the body. Hence, traditional ultrasound may often mislead
the diagnosis by giving abnormal findings or errors etc as the waves most
likely get distorted while arriving towards the detector.
What is the working and mechanism of new ultrasound?
The new ultrasound technique is based on detecting the
intensity of sound waves. These sound waves are converted into heat while
coming back. A thin pyroelectric film senses this temperature rise and
thereafter a temperature rise – dependent voltage output is generated.
This working mechanism is not only found successful in
making the detector less prone to abnormal sound speed and its effects but also
promises to deliver accurate results. Hence new detectors with 20 sensors are
being implemented into the clinical system soon for convenient and faster
screening of breast cancer.
Results of breast ultrasound
There is a likelihood of echoes from solid nodules which are
suggestive of fibroadenomas, papillomas or breast fibrocystic disease as these
nodules block the sound. A suspicious lesion or a complex cyst can increase the
likelihood of malignancy and there could be detection of lesion which highly
suggests cancer.
Is ultrasound done with biopsy or MRI effective?
The efficacy of ultrasound increases when compiled with MRI
as the lesions become confirmed and it guides the needle during biopsy.
