What to expect?

Breast screening in the UK is currently carried out on women aged 50-70 years using 2D Digital Mammography (DM). Whilst this is the current best screening technique there are difficulties in interpreting the images due to the overlaying nature of breast tissue as seen in the 2D DM images. Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) is a newer technique which produces 3D images of the breast making it easier to see some types of potential abnormalities.

The aim of the PROSPECTS trial is to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of the addition of DBT to 2D DM or Synthetic 2D Mammography in routine breast cancer screening compared to 2D DM by measuring cancer detection rates, interval cancer rates, size and lymph node status of Grade 2 and 3 invasive cancers in a sample size of 100,000 women.

Our team is determining how radiologists inspect these images by assessing readers’ performance and monitoring their visual search behaviour with both DBT and 2D DM screening cases.

This £3.6m study, supported by Hologic, is led by King’s College Hospital and involves: the Breast Radiology Department and National Breast Screening Training Centre, King’s College Hospital; Dept. of Radiology, University of Cambridge; Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, University of Nottingham; National Co-ordinating Centre for the Physics of Mammography (NCCPM), Surrey; Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts; Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College Hospital; and the Royal Surrey County Hospital. The research encompasses: the South East London Breast Screening Programme, Jarvis Breast Centre, Leeds Wakefield Breast Screening Unit, Avon Breast Screening Unit, Bristol Breast Care Centre, Central & East London Breast Screening Service, Service, and South East Wales Breast Screening Centre.

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