Reducing Breast Biopsies with Noninvasive Imaging

Determining whether a suspicious lump or area in the breast is cancerous has historically relied on biopsies, which, despite being the gold standard, often result in benign findings. Striving to enhance diagnostic efficiency, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis are exploring how ultrasound-guided diffuse optical tomography (DOT) could help reduce benign breast biopsy rates through a double-blind clinical trial.

The trial — led by Quing Zhu, PhD, the Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering at WashU McKelvey Engineering, and Debbie L. Bennett, MD, the Ronald and Hanna Evens Endowed Chair in Women’s Health at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and chief of breast imaging for WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) — leveraged ultrasound-guided DOT, a noninvasive imaging technique that uses near-infrared light to create 3D pictures, revealing functional differences between normal and cancerous tissue. The team found that this technology, when combined with standard ultrasound evaluation, can reduce unnecessary breast biopsy rates by nearly 25% with a low false negative rate below 2%. This result falls well within the guideline of the American College of Radiology on standard of care biopsy decision risk.

Learn more about the study from McKelvey School of Engineering.