Colour images reveal breast cancer

“At the moment we are working with clinical tests to verify the benefits,” says Mats Danielsson, professor of medical imaging technology at KTH, who was involved in the development of the new mammography technology.

The need is considerable. Each year 700,000 Swedish women are called in for a breast scan. The reason is that breast cancer is one of the most common cancer diseases among women; every 10th woman is affected which means that there are 7,000 new cases every year. And of those 7,000 new cases, 1,500 women die each year.

Photon Counting Spectral Imaging is the new solution that will detect more instances of breast cancer, and the technology is being fully evaluated at the university hospital Charité in Berlin.

“We are first in the world with this sort of development. Of course there are competitors, but we are ahead of them. In one year, the solution will be available on the market,” says Mats Danielsson.

The colour images not only make the tumours more easily detected, sometimes it is much better with colour rather than the greyscale images because it makes it much easier to detect the cancer. With the use of a contrast medium, mammography technology can also show the flow of blood which provides the cancer with the nutrition it needs which is linked to how aggressive the cancer is and how fast it spreads throughout the body. The blood flow also shows whether the treatment is working satisfactorily.

Mats Danielsson believes that Photon Counting Spectral Imaging will be a success. There are several reasons, besides the ones that have already been mentioned.

“Mammography technology does not require any increase in the radiation dosage, and the examination does not take any longer. It does not cost any extra to use the equipment, and it is no more complicated than the equipment the doctors are using today,” says Mats Danielsson.

For more information, contact Mats Danielsson at 08 - 55 37 81 81 or md@mi.physics.kth.se.

Peter Larsson