VOA慢速英語：醫(yī)生有了診斷乳腺癌的新工具

Doctors Have a New Tool to Identify Breast Cancer

醫(yī)生有了診斷乳腺癌的新工具

Early discovery and treatment can save lives.

早期發(fā)現(xiàn)和治療可以挽救性命。

Scientists are working new ways to recognize breast cancer while at the same time studying existing methods of identification to find out what is best.

科學(xué)家們正在設(shè)法尋找篩查乳腺癌的新辦法，同時也在研究現(xiàn)有的篩查方式，以找出那種方式最好。

Take mammograms, for example. During the test, a technician takes an X-ray picture of a woman's breast as it is pressed between two glass plates. A radiologist then examines the image for signs of cancer.

以乳房X光檢查為例。在檢查過程中，技師會攝下女性乳房的X光片，然后由放射科醫(yī)生檢查X光片看是否患有癌癥。

Mammograms are the best tools available for recognizing the disease. The number of breast cancer deaths has fallen by 30 percent in the United States since doctors began offering mammography in the 1970s. The reason: the chances of beating cancer are higher when the disease is found early.

乳房X光檢查是篩查乳腺癌的最佳工具。自從上世紀(jì)70年代醫(yī)生開始提供乳房X光檢查以來，美國乳腺癌死亡人數(shù)已經(jīng)下降了30%。這是因為早期發(fā)現(xiàn)癌癥的治愈幾率更高。

Yet mammograms are not perfect. A mammogram can look normal even when cancer is present. It can also look abnormal, or unusual, when cancer is not present.

然而乳房X光檢查并不完美。即使患有癌癥，X光片可能也會顯示正常。而當(dāng)沒有患上乳腺癌時，它可能也會顯示異常。

Traditional mammograms are two dimensional (2-D). They show length and width. But for the 40 to 50 percent of women with dense breasts, it is difficult for radiologists to see cancer on 2-D images.

傳統(tǒng)的乳房X光檢查是二維的，它們會顯示長度和寬度。但是對于40%到50%致密型乳腺的女性來說，放射科醫(yī)生很難在二維圖像上發(fā)現(xiàn)癌癥。

Three-dimensional mammograms provide a more detailed look. So women with dense breasts may get better results from a 3-D mammogram, said Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society.

三維乳房X光檢查提供了更詳細(xì)的外觀影像。所以致密型乳腺的女性通過三維乳房X光檢查可能會獲得更好的效果，美國癌癥學(xué)會的奧蒂斯·布勞利(Otis Brawley)表示。

"It might find disease that we need to find that two-dimensional does not," Brawley said. He added that 3-D testing costs more and involves higher levels of radiation. It also is not 100 % perfect, he said.

布勞利說：“它可能會幫助我們發(fā)現(xiàn)二維方式發(fā)現(xiàn)不了的疾病。”他補(bǔ)充說，三維乳房X光檢查成本更高，輻射水平也更高。這種方式也不是絕對完美的。

Cost aside, one study involving 13 U.S. hospitals showed that 3-D mammograms recognized an additional 40 percent of invasive cancers.

除此之外，一項涉及美國13家醫(yī)院的研究表明，三維乳房X光檢查額外確診了40%的浸潤性癌癥。

For better results, a woman could have a whole-breast ultrasound. This test requires the patient to lie on her back as the ultrasound device slowly moves back and forth. The exam captures between 3,000 and 5,000 images of the breast.

為了獲得更好的檢查效果，女性可以進(jìn)行乳房整體超聲檢查。這種檢查要求病人仰躺，然后超聲裝置來回緩慢移動。這種檢查會拍攝三千到五千張乳房的圖像。

Megha Garg is the director of the breast-imaging program at the University of Missouri cancer center. She says the whole-breast ultrasound "helps detect additional breast cancers in females who have dense breasts."

梅加·加格(Megha Garg)是密蘇里大學(xué)癌癥中心乳腺成像項目的主任。她說，乳腺整體超聲檢查“幫助致密型乳腺女性檢查出了更多的乳腺癌。”

The ultrasound doesn't use radiation, so it is less risky than a mammogram. But Garg says the traditional mammogram remains a helpful tool because it is very effective.

這種超聲檢查不使用輻射，所以比X光檢查風(fēng)險更低。但是加格表示，傳統(tǒng)X光檢查仍然是一個有用的工具，因為它非常有效。

Researchers are studying which method is best at detecting cancer.

研究人員正在研究哪種方法最適合檢查癌癥。

North America, Western Europe and Australia have the highest rates of breast cancer. Yet the World Health Organization reports that almost 50 percent of the cases and nearly 60 percent of the deaths happen in less-developed countries.

北美、西歐和澳大利亞的乳腺癌發(fā)病率最高。然而世界衛(wèi)生組織報告稱，將近50%的病例和近60%的死亡案例都發(fā)生在欠發(fā)達(dá)國家。

With improvements, nearly 400,000 women's lives could be saved every year.

隨著檢測手段的進(jìn)步，每年可以挽救近40萬女性的生命。

I'm Susan Shand.

蘇珊·珊德報道。