Chicago Tribune: Beyond the mammogram

May 13, 2010

Karen Ravn reports in the Chicago Tribune on new approaches to breast imaging that are attempting to decrease the number of cancers that are missed and the false positive rate.  The article describes digital mammography, stochastic resonance, digital tomosynthesis, stereoscopic mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).  However, "none of them offers hope for solving one big screening dilemma: how to distinguish dangerous cancers from those that will never go on to threaten a woman's life or cause her any problems at all. Because scientists can't do this yet, they generally treat all cancers, often with toxic chemicals or radiation," she writes.