A team of researchers from Tohoku University has developed a new method to detect breast cancer by combining a mammogram with an ultrasound in a procedure that appears to be more accurate than mammogram testing alone.
The team, lead by Noriaki Ohuchi, a professor at the university, divided roughly 73,000 women randomly into two groups — one group underwent traditional mammography X-ray testing while the other group was examined using both mammograms and ultrasound. The cancer detection rate was 1.5 times higher for the latter group, with the detection rate for early stage cancer being particularly high, according to the team.
The researchers said the new method is not perfect and that the examinees require further testing, which could be burdensome.