CHICAGO -- More than 1 million women a year undergo surgical breast biopsies in the United States, but in 8 of every 10 cases, no cancer is found, experts say.

Now doctors hope to reduce the number of those unnecessary biopsies with new technology designed to diagnose breast cancer without surgery.

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Standard mammograms can locate a suspicious lump, but currently, only a surgical biopsy can tell if it's cancer. That's about to change, thanks to the mammography systems on display this week at the Radiological Society meeting in Chicago.

One new machine is already in some doctors' offices. It looks just like a standard mammogram, but the images come out in three dimensions. They can be rotated, so radiologists can tell by the shape of a lump whether it's a cancer.

Another technology uses magnetic resonance imaging scans and a special chemical that's injected into the breast. The chemical highlights the new blood vessels that only cancerous tumors produce and the result is a color-coded cancer diagnosis.

"In our technology, red is indicative of malignancy, green is a transitionary phase for a cancerous cell and blue is benign," said Henry Wyszomierski, of 3TP MRI Scans. "We're hoping we can remove a lot of needless biopsies."

The 3TP system, as it's called, is expected to be available early next year.

A third machine is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval. It also looks for the telltale blood vessels that can confirm a cancer, but it doesn't use radiation or inject chemicals. The patient lays facedown, and the breast is scanned underneath the table with a laser light. Any malignancy shows up as the brighter areas in green. Any noncancerous lump simply draws a blank.

"It means that right after their exam, you can tell them there's no need for a biopsy. You have no malignancy. They don't have to wait the weekend," said Dr. Eric Milne, of Imaging Diagnostic Systems.

None of these new imaging systems will replace standard mammograms, but they can become an intermediate step between a suspicious mammogram and having to undergo a surgical biopsy.

Radiological Society