Using 3-D mammography as the follow-up assessment of women with abnormal mammograms could halve the number needing biopsies, while still detecting all invasive cancers, a UK study suggests.

As in Australia, Britain’s breast cancer screening program uses full-field digital mammography rather than the newer digital breast tomography (DBT) technique that produces a 3-D image of the breast.

The researchers wanted to find out whether using DBT for women recalled after their screening scan would reduce the rate of benign biopsies without negatively impacting cancer detection rates.

About 830 women whose screening result merited a recall over an eight-month period in 2015-16 were included in the study carried by a team at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust.