Ultrasound tests can supplement mammograms
By Christy Feig (CNN Medical Unit)
(CNN) -- When it's time to get a mammogram, a woman should ask the doctor if she has dense breast tissue -- and if so, she should also consider a breast ultrasound test, a new study indicates.
Only mammography can detect if a woman's breast tissue is dense -- fatty tissue shows up dark, dense tissue appears white. Cancers appear white on the film, so they can be masked by the white imprint of the dense tissues.
In ultrasound testing, cancers show as dark spots, so they stand out and can be more easily observed.
The study -- presented on Thursday by Dr. Thomas Kolb, a radiologist from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, at an American Medical Association Conference -- looked at 13,547 women with dense breasts whose physical exams and mammograms were read as normal. After ultrasounds, 246 cancers were found in 221 of the women.
But Kolb is quick to stress that although ultrasound is useful in these situations, it should not replace mammography.
"Ultrasound misses 25 percent of cancers and that's unacceptable," Kolb said. "Ultrasound must be used as an adjunct to mammography."
For now, ultrasound screening isn't an accepted technique so insurance won't cover it. The cost is about $100. Kolb recommends women with dense breast who choose to pay for the test find someone who does at least five breast ultrasounds a day.
