Investor RelationsPress RoomCOVID-19
  1. Home
  2. Medical Imaging
  3. Mammography
  4. 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis
Two clinical images of the same breast side by side reveal the difference in image quality with two types of 3D mammography technology

50° Wide-Angle TomosynthesisSuperior by design.

With our 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis, you benefit from a superior, highly accurate method of cancer detection that allows you to diagnose with confidence. This will result in excellent outcomes for breast care professionals, for radiologists, and – most important – for the many women and their families personally affected by breast cancer.

We at Siemens Healthineers know that with 50° you realize the full potential of tomosynthesis.

Put accuracy first

A graph shows the rate rise with wide-angle breast imaging technology

Why a wide angle is the right angle

50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis is more accurate

While 2D mammography may leave as many as 30% of malignant tumors undetected,3 one of the largest studies worldwide with more than 15,000 screened patients has shown that 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis provides an increased detection rate for invasive cancer of 43%, with just a 1-view tomosynthesis scan and a 15% dose reduction.1,4

See the impact of the angular range

With 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis you can achieve the highest depth resolution

With 25 projections (the highest number available), our 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis helps you gain deeper insights. Overcome diagnostic challenges like overlapping tissue with the highest mass detectability6 and a depth resolution that is 3.5 times higher than with a narrow angle,4 enabling you to see more and detect more.

15° vs. 50° angle – a clear picture for greater accuracy and diagnostic confidence

How our 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis works

With 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis, you can achieve the highest depth resolution.8a

Depth resolution can vary based on the angular range

Depth resolution is important in 3D imaging, as a lesion can be masked by normal glandular breast tissue.

Wider angle can provide better lesion detectability

Discover how the higher depth resolution avoids an overlapping tissue effect that can mimic a lesion.

See the effect on overlapping letters

The-Cookie-Experiment

Clear delineation of overlapping objects, better separation of objects, and unprecedented detail and clarity from top to bottom.

Clinical proof

The effect of the angular range in digital breast tomosynthesis

1/2
Two clinical images of the same breast side by side reveal the difference in image quality with two types of 3D mammography technology

Clinical Case 1

Large palpable mass posterior in the upper quarter of the left breast in a 55-year-old woman. A biopsy later confirmed the mass to be invasive ductal carcinoma grade 2.
Two clinical images of the same breast side by side reveal the difference in image quality with two types of 3D mammography technology
Two scans of a breast side by side. The comparison shows the difference in image quality with two types of advanced women imaging.
1/2

The impact of the angular range – Case 1

Dr. Paul Fisher (Stony Brook, New York) talks about a patient with heterogeneously dense breast called back from screening for a detected mass.

The impact of the angular range – Case 2

Dr. Paul Fisher (Stony Brook, New York) talks about a patient called back from screening with scattered fibroglandular elements and biopsy in the past.

The impact of the angular range – Case 3

Dr. Paul Fisher (Stony Brook, New York) talks about a patient called back from screening with asymmetry in heterogeneously dense breast.

What do our clinical experts have to say?

Tomorrow’s Technology Today: The Migration to Wide-Angle Breast Tomosynthesis

Interviews with the lead breast radiologist Dr. Anthony Antonoplos and the manager Jacqui Appel of Mary Jo Cropper Center for Breast Imaging: A case study of a breast imaging center in Cincinnati, OH who made the transition easy when it adopted Wide-Angle Breast Tomosynthesis technology. (Clinical Focus Talks, Nov. 2021)

The Impact of the Angular Range in DBT (15° vs 50°)

Prof. Dr. Wei Zhao (Stony Brook, New York) reviews the physical principles of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) and makes you familiar with the strengths and limitations of different technologies (IWBI, May 2020).

Comparison of 15 vs. 50 degree Breast Tomosynthesis, Case 1

Dr. Wayne Lemish (MIA Radiology, East Melbourne, Australia) reviewing a decicated clinical case taken with different technologies: Invasive ductal carcinoma grade 2.

Scientifically proven

Clinically validated, 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis increases diagnostic certainty with highly defined tissue and lesion morphology in unprecedented detail. Get more clinical evidence:
50⁰ Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis

Malmö Breast Tomosynthesis Screening Trial

This prospective, population-based trial proved that you can achieve a 43% higher invasive cancer detection rate, 15% less dose, and 40% less compression with 1-view 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis.7

Download the study

50⁰ Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis

50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis provides superior cancer detection

A study conducted by Dr. D. Georgian-Smith et al. shows: 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis 2-view DBT alone has a higher diagnostic accuracy than 2-view FFDM.

Read the study on pubmed.gov

50⁰ Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis

Key clinical findings

Clinical studies conducted with 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis and this bibliography provides an overview including key clinical findings.

Download the bibliography

Our Clinical Corner

Find relevant clinical information to optimize your daily work including clinical talks, white papers, case studies, and educational offerings.

50° Wide-Angle Biopsy: Give your patients certainty

Precision is key when taking a tissue sample. Biopsies guided by 50° Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis have a target accuracy of ± 1 mm. Less need for retargeting means less stress on the patient and makes life easier for your staff.

mammography tomosynthesis - biopsy

Faster and more accurate biopsies of virtually all kinds of lesions, thanks to: 

  • One-click targeting 
  • Intuitive guided workflows
  • Wide range of compatible biopsy devices 
  • Both vertical and lateral needle access 
  • Compatibility with a variety of needle sizes 
  • Motorized needle movement in X, Y, Z axes  
  • Spacer plate to ease targeting 
  • Integrated scanner InSpect immediately checks the specimen in 20 sec. right in the exam room
“If supported by cost-effectiveness studies, one-view DBT warrants consideration as the preferred breast cancer screening method in the future.” 
Sophia Zackrisson, MD, PhD 
Associate Professor, 
Lund University, Malmö, Sweden

Sustain her loyalty

A photograph of a woman patient in her 50s looking straight into the camera. She appears calm and quietly confident.

High-quality, personalized breast care for all women 

Designed for her – with personalized dose and compression

The success of screening programs largely depends on patient acceptance. We designed our tomosynthesis with a positive patient experience in mind. With our 50⁰ Wide-Angle Tomosynthesis, we enable superior cancer detection1 with the right dose and compression for every woman.

More and more studies are showing that a 1-view tomosynthesis exam is at least as accurate as the 2-view FFDM examination traditionally used in screenings.

1-view tomosynthesis also benefits dose and compression8

Comparison of dose levels: See how 1-view tomosynthesis surpasses standard 2-view FFDM

The comparison of dose levels by different vendors shows the basically low dose exposure of our systems and the fact that a higher number of projections in tomosynthesis does not necessarily result in higher dose. Furthermore, this comparison shows that dose can be saved with 1-view tomo compared to 2-view FFDM.9,10

More features to give women a better tomosynthesis experience:

*
Option

Drive efficient screening

Master rising costs and demand – with up to 10 exams per hour and faster reading2

For screening, 1-view tomosynthesis could lead to faster exams, lower data volume, and shorter reading times and thus accelerate the entire process for each individual examination7,10. But regardless of whether it is a 1-view or 2-view examination, we can offer you a whole range of options to help you increase your efficiency throughout the diagnostic process: from patient positioning to acquisition, and from reading to distribution of results.



Boost your efficiency by scheduling up to 10 exams per hour2 with 50° TomoFlow

With 50° TomoFlow the average exam takes only six minutes. Uninterrupted acquisition means your patients don’t have to wait between views and spend less time in the exam room.



Insight 2D and Insight 3D: Get more than just another view

You may be reluctant to go from 2D to 3D because tomosynthesis images give you a completely different kind and amount of information. With Insight 2D, the synthetic twin of FFDM, you get the image impression you are used to from years of FFDM reading, helping you with the transition from 2D to tomosynthesis.

  • Easily navigate 3D data
  • Fast side-by-side comparison of both breasts
  • Intuitively assess density2,11
  • Insight 3D: synthetic rotating visualization for improved orientation in the tomosynthesis volume5
1/4

ID 1aaa009

Insight 2D: Confidently transition from 2D to tomosynthesis

  • An ‘easy-to-read’ overview12
  • Can replace 2D image in a 2D + tomosynthesis scan13
  • Comes with an FFDM-like image impression for easy comparison with prior images2
An ‘easy-to-read’ overview
siemens healthineers mammomat revelation
1/4

Systems and solutions

Insight BD

Insight BD –
Insight Breast Density

Leverage quick and precise risk assessment with Insight BD:

  • an automated, volumetric breast density assessment
  • an objective classification16
  • instant risk stratification right at the acquisition workstation, directly after the first scan

The statements by Siemens’ Healthineers customers described herein are based on results that were achieved in the customer's unique setting. Because there is no "typical" hospital or laboratory and many variables exist (e.g., hospital size, samples mix, case mix, level of IT and/or automation adoption) there can be no guarantee that other customers will achieve the same results.

1
Compared to FFDM. Cancer detection rate was 43% higher for invasive cancers in a large prospective screen trial of 15,000 women. Zackrisson S, Lång K, Rosso A, Johnson K, Dustler M, Förnvik D et al. One-view breast tomosynthesis versus two-view mammography in the Malmö Breast Tomosynthesis Screening Trial (MBTST): A prospective, population-based, diagnostic accuracy study. The Lancet Oncology. 2018; 19(11): 1493–503. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30521-7. 
2

Data on file

3
Carney PA, Migloretti DL, Yankaskas BC, et al. Individual and combined effects of age, breast density, and hormone replacement therapy use on the accuracy of screening mammography. Ann Intern Med. 2003; 138: 168–75.
Choi JW, Im HH, Lee SY, et al. A comparison between digital breast tomosynthesis and full-field digital mammography for the detection of breast cancers. Breast Cancer. 2016; 23(6): 886–92.
4
Maldera A, et al. Digital breast tomosynthesis: Dose and image quality assessment. Physica Med. 2017; 33: 56–67 
5
Tani H, et al. Assessing Radiologist Performance and Microcalcifications Visualization Using Combined 3D Rotating Mammogram (RM) and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT). LNCS 2014; 8539: 142–9 (2014); Uchiyama N, et al. Clinical Efficacy of Novel Image Processing Techniques in the Framework pf Filtered Back Projection (FBP) with Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT). LNCS 2014; 8539: 320–6. 
6
Scaduto DA, Huang H, Liu C, Rinaldi K, Hebecker A, Mertelmeier T, et al. Impact of angular range of digital breast tomosynthesis on mass detection in dense breasts. Proc. SPIE 10718, 14th International Workshop on Breast Imaging (IWBI 2018), 107181V (6 July 2018). 
7
Zackrisson S, Lång K, Rosso A, Johnson K, Dustler M, Förnvik D, et al. One-view breast tomosynthesis versus two-view mammography in the Malmö Breast Tomosynthesis Screening Trial (MBTST): A prospective, population-based, diagnostic accuracy study. Lancet Oncol. 2018; 19(11): 1493–503. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30521-7. 
8

1-view tomosynthesis animation:
a. Maldera A, et al. Digital breast tomosynthesis: Dose and image quality assessment. Physica Med. 2017; 33: 56–67; Marshall NW, and Bosmans H. Measurements of system sharpness for two digital breast tomosynthesis systems. Phys. Med. Biol. 2012; 57: 7629–50; Rodríguez-Ruiz A, et al. Evaluation of the technical performance of three different commercial digital breast tomosynthesis systems in the clinical environment. Physica Medica. 2016; 32: 767–77.
b. Zackrisson S, Lång K, Rosso A, Johnson K, Dustler M, Förnvik D et al. One-view breast tomosynthesis versus two-view mammography in the Malmö Breast Tomosynthesis Screening Trial (MBTST): A prospective, population-based, diagnostic accuracy study. Lancet Oncol. 2018; 19(11): 1493–503. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30521-7.

10
“One-view tomo only” is not FDA approved in the U.S. 
11

Talk by Prof. Van Ongeval at Breast Care Day 2019, Vienna;
https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/mammography/informationgallery/videos, 02/03/2020.

12
Responses from more than 400 radiologists. Survey conducted at RSNA 2014, ECR 2015 and Advisory Board 2015.
13
Clauser P, et al. Synthetic 2-Dimensional Mammography Can Replace Digital Mammography as an Adjunct to Wide-Angle Digital Breast Tomosynthesis. Investigative radiology. 2019; 54(2): 83–8. 
14
Responses from more than 400 radiologists. Survey conducted at RSNA 2014, ECR 2015 and Advisory Board 2015; Tani H, et al. Assessing Radiologist Performance and Microcalcifications Visualization Using Combined 3D Rotating Mammogram (RM) and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT). LNCS. 2014; 8539: 142–9. 
15
Compared to grid-based acquisition with Mammomat Inspiration, depending on breast thickness – Larsen LB, Fieselmann A, Pfaff H, Mertelmeier T. Performance of grid-less digital mammography acquisition technique for breast screening: analysis of 22,117 examinations Presentation B-1025 ECR 2015. 
16
Please note that Insight BD should be used as adjunctive information for visual breast density assessment by medical professionals.