A recent WLOX report highlighted how 3D mammography is changing breast cancer detection across South Mississippi, with
Gulfport Ob-Gyn Clinic among the first local facilities to offer it to the public. The story underscores something
we’ve been seeing in radiology practice for years: 3D imaging isn’t just a marginal upgrade over conventional 2D
mammography — it meaningfully changes outcomes for patients.
Board-certified radiologist Dr. Mark Wall, quoted in the WLOX piece, captured the difference well: “It reduces false
positives by 50%. Not only detecting more cancers, but it reduces anxiety for women, knowing you won’t be called back
as often.” He also offered a useful analogy for patients trying to understand the technology: “It’s like looking at a
foggy mirror with 2D, but 3D helps clear the glass.”
That clarity matters. Conventional 2D mammography compresses the entire breast into a single flat image, which means
overlapping tissue can hide small cancers or, just as often, create the appearance of an abnormality that turns out to
be nothing on follow-up. 3D mammography — formally called digital breast tomosynthesis — captures the breast in thin
layers that radiologists can scroll through like the pages of a book. Cancers that would have been hidden in
overlapping tissue become visible, and benign overlaps stop triggering unnecessary callbacks.
For women with dense breast tissue or a history of fibrocystic changes, the reduction in callbacks alone is a
quality-of-life improvement. Fewer biopsies. Fewer ultrasounds. Less anxiety waiting on results.
For our part, GCI Radiology has been providing 3D mammography interpretation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for some
time, and we expect adoption to keep accelerating as more insurers cover the modest additional cost. If you’re a
referring physician or a patient on the Gulf Coast looking for 3D mammography services, you can
https://www.gciradiology.com/3d-mammography-digital-breast-tomosynthesis/.
Source: WLOX. We’ve summarized the report here with our own commentary; please follow the link
for the full story.