3D mammography allows doctors to detect breast cancer early, which can lead to better outcomes for the patient.

“The radiologist can manipulate the images we take now, and they can not only see on top of the image but they can scroll through those images and see into the breast,” Kathy Davidson, lead technologist/mammographer at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs Women’s Center, explains.

Davidson said that's how they can detect the cancers that are in dense breast tissue. With 3D you can find areas that are not even a lump yet.

"We call it architectural distortion. So it’s just at the beginning stages of breast cancer when the tissue has just a small change. We can proceed to a biopsy, and a lot of the time, that’s breast cancer before there’s a lump that we can see or feel," said Davidson.

Learn more about breast services at CHI St. Vincent.