Automated Breast Ultrasound in Dallas, TX

While mammograms are effective in detecting most breast cancer, sometimes women have dense breast tissue that can render mammography less useful. Fortunately, there are other diagnostic imaging tools that can be used to help detect breast cancer in women that are asymptomatic for breast cancer.

Breast Density — What does it mean?

Breasts are made of fat and breast tissue. Some women have more fat than breast tissue while others have more breast tissue than fat. When there is more breast tissue the breast is considered dense. On a mammogram dense tissue looks white. Since masses or lumps also appear white on a mammogram, a suspicious lump may be masked by the dense breast tissue.

Dense breast tissue is also linked with an increase in the risk of developing breast cancer. Women with extremely dense breast tissue have a 4 to 6 times greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who do not have dense breast tissue. ¹ABUS helps physicians look differently at dense breast tissue. Breast density is determined by the radiologist who reads your mammogram and classifies the density into one of four categories. Your doctor will tell you if you have dense breasts based on your mammogram’s classification on the density scale.

¹ Boyd et al, New England Journal of Medicine 2007;356:227-36 “Women with dense tissue in 75% or more of the breast have a risk of breast cancer four to six times as great as the risk among women with little or no dense tissue.”

Dense Breast Ultrasound

ABUS (Automated Breast Ultrasound System) is the only breast cancer screening technology FDA-approved for detection in women with dense breast tissue.

Now at Southwest Diagnostic Imaging Center, our Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS), used in conjunction with mammography as a screening protocol has been demonstrated to increase breast cancer detection by 35% in women with dense breasts.

Should I have an Invenia ABUS screening exam?

ABUS breast cancer screening is specifically developed to help doctors find cancers hidden in dense breast tissue, which may be missed by mammography. If you have dense breast tissue, like 40% of women in the U.S., the addition of ABUS (Automated Breast Ultrasound) screening can increase the detection of cancers. Invenia ABUS does not replace your screening mammogram but acts as a supplemental test to find potential cancers that may be obscured in dense tissue.

How the Invenia ABUS exam is different

Unlike 2D or 3D mammography, which uses radiation, Invenia ABUS screening uses sound waves to create 3D pictures of the breast tissue. Invenia ABUS is the only FDA-approved system for breast cancer screening when used in combination with mammography in women who have dense breast tissue and no prior interventions.

Download preparation instructions for ABUS Exam | Download Fact Sheet

Mammography Scan Hours

Monday – Friday – 9:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.