Is digital better than film at finding breast cancer?
A recent large-scale breast cancer screening study showed that digital and film mammography have very similar screening accuracy overall, but that digital mammography offers improved performance for some women.
What's the Difference Between a Digital and Film Mammogram?
The difference is "basically like switching from a camera with film to a digital camera," explains Jennifer Harvey, M.D., a radiologist with the University of Virginia Health System's Breast Care Center, which has offered full-field digital mammography since 2001. "With digital, we still use X-rays to produce images of the breast tissue. But rather than develop the image onto film, the X-rays are converted into electric signals that can be displayed on a computer screen."
