Torrance Memorial Medical Center To Offer 3D Mammograms

TORRANCE (CBSLA.com) — Health officials Wednesday announced a medical center in Torrance will be the first to offer 3D mammograms to patients in the South Bay.

Torrance Memorial Medical Center held a training session around 8:30 a.m. for physicians, radiologists, and staff members inside of a 40-foot-long Hologic Armor mobile bus.

Inside the bus, preloaded images and demonstrations of 3D mammograms were used to teach critical information about the new technology, which is also referred to as Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT).

DBT allows for physicians to detect early-stage breast cancers in women by examining a series of high resolution images that are one millimeter in size, authorities explained.

According to health officials, women who have dense breast tissue have a higher cancer risk than women who have lower density breast tissue.

In fact, 75 percent of women in their 40s are known to have dense breast tissue. As women get older, however, the tissue typically tends to reduce in density.

A recent study put out by JAMA found that 3D mammograms detected 41 percent of invasive or lethal breast cancers, in comparison to results of traditional 2D mammography.

Traditional mammogram examinations produce a flat image of the breast tissue.

Therefore, the latest technology is extremely beneficial to catch early tumor signs as different layers of the breast tissue can be seen easily, officials said.

An examination using the DBT is very similar to that of a traditional mammogram. The only difference is the 3D mammogram take a few seconds longer in order for each view to process.

No additional compression is required, and the same low X-ray energy is used during the 3D examination.

Health officials explained the technology will be offered at the Vasek and Anna Maria Polak Breast Diagnostic Center -- 3275 Skypark Drive in Torrance -- in addition to their office in Manhattan Beach.

The medical center plans to also obtain the 3D technology at their Rolling Hills office by this summer.