IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – The American Cancer Society says one in eight women will develop breast cancer some time during her lifetime.
Dr. Kirk Garmager reviews 2D and 3D breast mammograms at Mercy Iowa City on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (Randy Dircks/KCRG)
Currently, a two-dimensional mammogram screen for those cancers and a newer technology allows doctors to see those images in three dimensions. Both mammograms are still in active practice across the country and are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As the National Cancer Institute is beginning a study to determine the best way to screen for breast cancer, doctors at Mercy Iowa City have seemingly picked their preference. Dr. Kirk Garmager, a diagnostic radiologist with Mercy Iowa City, says they have seen such significant results with 3D images, they stopped offering 2D mammograms last week.
Dr. Garmager has been in his position for 30 years, and he says the best comparison between 2D and 3D mammograms can be best described as “raisin bread.”
“If you look at a loaf of raisin bread, you don’t see the raisins on the inside unless you slice the bread,” Garmager said. “And that’s what we’re doing here, we’re slicing the breast images so that we can see the inside of the breast better and we’re looking for small breast cancers.”
Garmager reviewed mammograms explaining some of the features and things he is looking for when examining potential problem areas. And he said a 2D image takes one picture from one angle, whereas a 3D image can show much more taking a picture from multiple angles.
“So instead of looking at one image we’re looking at 70 individual slices,” Garmager said.
Garmager says because he can find more potential problems, it can make treatment an easier solution.
“We find breast cancer, more breast cancer, and smaller breast cancers,” Garmager said. “And the smaller the cancer is when we find it, the easier it is to treat.”
Garmager explained those extra layers of perspective provide the best chance to find cancer and potentially attack it before it grows.
“Some of the cancers we find, if a woman didn’t have a mammogram, it might be several years before that lump was culpable, meaning you could feel it in the breast. So we’re finding that often times several years before that. And the smaller you find something, the better and easier it is to treat.”