Women with dense breast tissue have the most reason to seek 3-dimensional mammography, says Ravi Adhikary, MD, director of the women‘s imaging section at Upstate.

Dense tissue appears white on a regular 2-dimensional mammogram, so it can mask cancer, which also usually appears white.

The 3-D mammography available at Upstate provides images of multiple slices of breast tissue. “We can see through that and find a mass that may be difficult to see otherwise,” Adhikary explains. This allows cancers to be detected earlier. He also says the more accurate images create fewer false positives, which means fewer unnecessary biopsies.

The newer technology exposes women to a lower dose of radiation. And, the breast compression time is shorter, which Upstate Radiology Director Jennifer Caldwell says increases patient comfort.

This article appears in the summer 2016 issue of Cancer Care magazine. Hear Adhikary and Jennifer Caldwell, Upstate's director of radiology, discuss 3-D mammography in a radio/podcast interview with "HealthLink on Air."