January 21, 2021 -- An international research team used dozens of CT images to map breast density in a January 16 study published in Medical Physics. Their technique could lead to more accurate radiation dose estimates and improved breast cancer risk models. The team utilized a program to model how compression changes the distribution of fatty and fibroglandular tissue on digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and digital mammography. The breast models showed that fibroglandular breast tissue was distributed unevenly and, sometimes, not symmetrically during compression. "The characteristics of breast CT allow, to date, for the highest glandular detail depiction, possibly leading to an improved breast tissue characterization," wrote the authors, jointly led by Christian Fedon, PhD, and doctoral student Marco Caballo from the department of medical imaging at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands.