[Current situation and future perspectives of digital mammography]

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging
• Breast Imaging

Background:

• Digital mammography has largely replaced conventional film-screen mammography.
• It is the current standard for both clinical and screening mammography, utilizing soft-copy reading.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the advancements and benefits of digital mammography.
• To highlight its performance compared to conventional methods and discuss future directions.

Main Methods:

• Review of large international multicenter studies comparing digital and conventional mammography.
• Analysis of the role of computer-aided detection (CAD).
• Exploration of emerging digital mammography techniques.

Main Results:

• Digital mammography shows equivalent or superior breast cancer detection rates, particularly in specific patient groups (dense breasts, younger women).
• Computer-aided detection (CAD) improves specificity for experienced readers.
• Advanced options like tomosynthesis and contrast-enhanced mammography are available.

Conclusions:

• Digital mammography is a superior standard for breast cancer detection.
• Future breast diagnosis will integrate various digital imaging systems for enhanced accuracy.