Computer-enhanced imaging promises to help radiologists find more tumors and detect breast cancer earlier, according to researchers in the schools of Medicine and Public Health.
Researchers used information from real mammograms and inserted computer-generated information. Twenty observers looked at 800 different images and detected more tumor masses with the digital-enhanced mammography.
"We found observers were able to find masses about 17 percent more frequently with a technique called `intensity windowing' than without it," said Etta D. Pisano, associate professor of radiology.
Intensity windowing makes the cancer more visible by manipulating the gray areas to create more or less contrast.
"Mammography is pretty good, but we can only detect about 90 percent of tumors," said Pisano, chief of breast imaging at UNC Hospitals and a member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Each year, breast cancer kills nearly 45,000 U.S. women, including 1,300 North Carolinians. An estimated 182,000 new cases were expected to have been diagnosed in this country by the end of 1995.
"Breast cancers can take up to five to eight years before they're visible on the mammogram," Pisano said. "If we can shorten that time, patients will be better off."
Others involved in the study--sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the Department of Defense--were Stephen M. Pizer, Kenan professor of computer science; Robert E. Johnston, professor of radiology; Patricia Braeuning, assistant professor of radiology; Keith E. Muller, associate professor of biostatistics; Jayanthi Chandramouli, biomedical engineering graduate student; and Bradley M. Hemminger, radiology system programmer.
University researchers are collaborating with scientists at the University of Toronto and General Electric Co. to develop new digital mammography machines. This year, a Fischer Imaging machine will be installed at UNC Hospitals, one of the first sites to use the machine for clinical trials.
Etta Pisano examines a digital mammography image.
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