# Mammography & tomosynthesis

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/mammography/  
OnCo record `mammography` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Low-dose breast X-ray used for screening. Newer 3D versions find more cancers with fewer false alarms.

## Summary

Population mammographic screening reduces breast cancer mortality by roughly 20% in screened women. Digital breast tomosynthesis (3D) improves detection in dense breasts. Contrast-enhanced mammography approaches MRI sensitivity at lower cost. AI reading (Transpara, Lunit, Mirai risk model) is being deployed at scale in Europe.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: standard-of-care
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Principle: Low-energy X-rays compress and image the breast; tomosynthesis acquires multiple angles and reconstructs slices.
- Strengths: Proven mortality benefit; Cheap and scalable
- Limitations: Reduced sensitivity in dense breasts; Overdiagnosis of indolent lesions

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammography
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammography

## Connected records

- technologies: [AI in radiology](https://onco.cc/technologies/radiology-ai-screening/), [AI-assisted mammography screening](https://onco.cc/technologies/ai-mammography-screening/), [Breast cancer after chest radiotherapy in childhood, and the screening that follows](https://onco.cc/technologies/rejuv-paed-breast-after-chest-radiotherapy/), [Breast MRI coils and abbreviated breast MRI](https://onco.cc/technologies/breast-mri-coils-abbreviated-mri/), [Contrast-enhanced mammography](https://onco.cc/technologies/contrast-enhanced-mammography/), [Hand-held and point-of-care ultrasound](https://onco.cc/technologies/hand-held-ultrasound/), [Mirai (MIT breast cancer risk from mammograms)](https://onco.cc/technologies/mirai/), [Polygenic risk scores for cancer](https://onco.cc/technologies/polygenic-risk-scores/), [X-ray radiography and fluoroscopy](https://onco.cc/technologies/x-ray-radiography-fluoroscopy/)
- cancers: [Breast cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-cancer/), [Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)](https://onco.cc/cancers/ductal-carcinoma-in-situ/), [Early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma (stage I to II)](https://onco.cc/cancers/early-stage-classical-hodgkin-lymphoma/), [HER2-positive breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-her2-positive/), [Hodgkin lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/hodgkin-lymphoma/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Inflammatory breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/inflammatory-breast-cancer/), [Male breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/male-breast-cancer/), [Paget disease of the nipple](https://onco.cc/cancers/paget-disease-of-the-nipple/), [Phyllodes tumour of the breast](https://onco.cc/cancers/phyllodes-tumour/), [Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)](https://onco.cc/cancers/tnbc/)
- fronts: [Early Detection & Screening](https://onco.cc/fronts/early-detection/), [Imaging](https://onco.cc/fronts/imaging/)
- companies: [ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group](https://onco.cc/companies/ecog-acrin/), [FUJIFILM Healthcare](https://onco.cc/companies/fujifilm/), [GE HealthCare](https://onco.cc/companies/ge-healthcare/), [Hologic](https://onco.cc/companies/hologic/), [iCAD (RadNet)](https://onco.cc/companies/icad/), [Kheiron Medical Technologies](https://onco.cc/companies/kheiron-medical-technologies/), [Lunit](https://onco.cc/companies/lunit/), [ScreenPoint Medical](https://onco.cc/companies/screenpoint-medical/), [Siemens Healthineers](https://onco.cc/companies/siemens-healthineers/), [Therapixel](https://onco.cc/companies/therapixel/), [Vara](https://onco.cc/companies/vara/), [Volpara Health](https://onco.cc/companies/volpara-health/)
- trials: [AgeX](https://onco.cc/trials/agex/), [MASAI (Mammography Screening with Artificial Intelligence)](https://onco.cc/trials/masai/), [ScreenTrustCAD](https://onco.cc/trials/screentrustcad/), [TMIST (Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial)](https://onco.cc/trials/tmist/), [WISDOM (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk)](https://onco.cc/trials/wisdom-trial/)
- people: [Betty Ford](https://onco.cc/people/betty-ford/), [Constance D. Lehman](https://onco.cc/people/constance-lehman/), [Katie Couric](https://onco.cc/people/katie-couric/), [Kris Hallenga](https://onco.cc/people/kris-hallenga/), [Kristina Lång](https://onco.cc/people/kristina-lang/), [Laura J. Esserman](https://onco.cc/people/laura-esserman/), [Mitchell D. Schnall](https://onco.cc/people/mitchell-schnall/), [Nancy Brinker](https://onco.cc/people/nancy-brinker/), [Per Hall](https://onco.cc/people/per-hall/)
- journals: [Journal of breast imaging](https://onco.cc/journals/journal-of-breast-imaging/)
- terms: [After Hodgkin lymphoma: the late effects, and the screening that follows them](https://onco.cc/terms/lymphoma-living-hodgkin-survivorship-screening/), [Breast cancer after chest radiotherapy given young](https://onco.cc/terms/second-primary-breast-after-chest-radiotherapy/), [Ducts, lobules and the terminal duct lobular unit](https://onco.cc/terms/terminal-duct-lobular-unit/), [Interval breast cancer (a cancer found between screening rounds)](https://onco.cc/terms/interval-breast-cancer/), [Overdiagnosis](https://onco.cc/terms/overdiagnosis/), [Screening](https://onco.cc/terms/screening/), [Screening survivors: where the UK, American and European answers differ](https://onco.cc/terms/rejuv-second-screening-after-treatment-compared/), [Stage shift](https://onco.cc/terms/stage-shift/), [The UK very high risk breast screening protocol after chest radiotherapy](https://onco.cc/terms/rejuv-second-uk-very-high-risk-breast-screening/), [Tumour size on a breast report, and why it differs from the scan](https://onco.cc/terms/breast-tumour-size-on-the-report/)
- key papers: [Artificial intelligence for breast cancer detection in screening mammography in Sweden: a prospective, population-based, paired-reader, non-inferiority study (ScreenTrustCAD)](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-screentrustcad-dembrower-lancet-digit-health-2023/), [Breast cancer following radiotherapy and chemotherapy among young women with Hodgkin disease](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-travis-breast-cancer-after-hodgkin-radiotherapy-jama-2003/), [MASAI: AI-supported mammography screening finds more cancers with half the radiologist workload](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-masai-lancet-oncol-2023/)
- roadmaps: [AI in oncology roadmap: pattern readers → foundation models → agents in the workflow](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/ai-oncology-roadmap/), [AI in the oncology clinic: from narrow cleared tools to multimodal decision support](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/ai-oncology-clinic/), [Early detection roadmap: organ screening → blood tests for many cancers](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/early-detection-roadmap/)
- bottlenecks: [AI that is built but not validated or deployed](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-ai-validation/), [Overdiagnosis and false alarms](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-overdiagnosis/)
- ideas: [A dedicated fund for randomised trials of cancer AI with patient outcomes](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-prospective-ai-trials-fund/), [After the COMET trial: surveillance pathways and a new name for low-risk DCIS](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-low-risk-dcis-surveillance-pathway/), [Mandatory subgroup performance reporting for cancer AI](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-subgroup-performance-reporting-mandate/), [One-stop breast clinics: imaging, biopsy and a preliminary answer in a single visit](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-acc-one-stop-breast-diagnostic-clinic/), [Require stage-shift or interval-cancer endpoints for AI in cancer screening](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-data-ai-screening-endpoints/), [Roll out AI-supported mammography nationally as a stepped-wedge trial](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mammography-ai-stepped-wedge/), [Set each woman's mammogram interval from her last mammogram, using AI risk](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-ai-mammogram-risk-intervals/)
- collections: [American Cancer Society (ACS)](https://onco.cc/collections/american-cancer-society/), [Australia's national cancer screening programs](https://onco.cc/collections/australia-cancer-screening-programs/), [CDC National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program](https://onco.cc/collections/cdc-nbccedp/), [Ireland's National Screening Service](https://onco.cc/collections/ireland-national-screening-service/), [NHS cancer screening programmes](https://onco.cc/collections/nhs-cancer-screening-programmes/), [Susan G. Komen](https://onco.cc/collections/susan-g-komen/), [Time to Screen (New Zealand national screening)](https://onco.cc/collections/nz-time-to-screen/)
- institutions: [Hospital de Amor (Barretos Cancer Hospital)](https://onco.cc/institutions/hospital-de-amor-barretos/), [Kaiser Permanente Division of Research](https://onco.cc/institutions/kaiser-permanente-research/), [National Cancer Center Korea](https://onco.cc/institutions/ncc-korea/), [Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital](https://onco.cc/institutions/tmucih/)
- drugs: [Lunit INSIGHT MMG](https://onco.cc/drugs/lunit-insight-mmg/), [Mia (Mammography Intelligent Assessment)](https://onco.cc/drugs/kheiron-mia/), [ProFound AI (iCAD)](https://onco.cc/drugs/icad-profound-ai/), [Transpara](https://onco.cc/drugs/transpara/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/mammography.json