3-D Technology Saves Lives

Three-dimensional technology -- known as three-D -- gives depth to objects that would otherwise appear two-dimensional, or flat. 

三维技术——被称为三维技术——为原本看起来是二维或平面的物体提供深度。

Three-D makes movies and video games look more realistic. And now it could help save lives.

三维使电影和视频游戏看起来更逼真。现在它可以帮助拯救生命。

For years, mammograms have played an important role in finding breast cancer. But these X-ray pictures of the human breast often miss dangerous lumps or tumors. 

多年来，乳房X光检查在发现乳腺癌方面发挥了重要作用。但这些人类乳房的X光照片常常会漏掉危险的肿块或肿瘤。

And they also produce false positives. A false positive wrongly appears to show suspicious tissue. And that causes painful, unnecessary biopsies to examine that tissue.

它们也会产生假阳性。假阳性错误地显示可疑组织。这会导致痛苦的，不必要的活检来检查组织。

A new study shows that three-D technology could change the way doctors look for breast cancer.

一项新的研究表明，三维技术可以改变医生寻找乳腺癌的方式。

When Zulima Palacio discovered she had breast cancer, it already had reached stage three. That means that the cancer was very dangerous. 

当Zulima Palacio发现她患有乳腺癌时，已经到了第三阶段。这意味着癌症是非常危险的。

"Even a month before it was detected, I went for a sonogram and they told me, 'You're fine, go home.'"

“甚至在被发现前一个月，我去做了超声波检查，他们告诉我，‘你没事，回家吧。’”

Ms. Palacio is now cancer free. But the standard two-dimensional mammogram missed all three of her tumors. 

帕拉西奥女士现在没有癌症。但是标准的二维乳房X光检查没有发现她的三个肿瘤。

Many doctors - including cancer surgeon Negar Golesorkhi - say standard mammography does not find enough cancerous tumors. 

许多医生，包括癌症外科医生内加尔·戈勒索基说，标准的乳房X光检查并没有发现足够的癌性肿瘤。

She says looking for cancer in dense, thick breast tissue is like looking for a polar bear in a snow storm. In other words, it is very difficult.

她说，在致密、厚的乳腺组织中寻找癌症就像在暴风雪中寻找北极熊一样。换句话说，这是非常困难的。

"When we look for cancer on a mammogram in a dense breast tissue, we're looking for a polar bear in a snow storm, so it would be very difficult to find."

“当我们在密集的乳腺组织中进行乳房X光检查寻找癌症时，我们在暴风雪中寻找北极熊，所以很难找到。”

A few years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of three-D mammography. And three-D technology found Jennifer Hoeft's tumor.

几年前，美国食品和药物管理局批准使用三维乳房X光摄影术。三维技术发现了詹妮弗·霍夫特的肿瘤。

"It was a very small tumor. It was only an 8 millimeter tumor that couldn't be felt."

“那是个很小的肿瘤。只有8毫米的肿瘤，感觉不到。”

Sarah Friedewald is a doctor at Lutheran General Hospital in the U.S. state of Illinois. She led a study to compare the results of three-D and two-D mammography from nearly a half million patients. 

莎拉·弗里德瓦尔德是美国伊利诺伊州路德总医院的医生。她领导了一项研究，比较了近50万患者的三维和二维乳腺摄影结果。

Dr. Friedewald says they found more cancers using three-D mammograms versus, or compared to, two-D mammograms. And they found more cancers that kill.

弗里德瓦尔德博士说，他们发现更多的癌症使用三维乳房X光片，而不是，或比较，二维乳房X光片。他们发现了更多的癌症。

"We found invasive cancers or the cancers that we worry about, the ones that could potentially kill people more frequently in women who had the 3-D mammogram versus the women who just had the 2-D mammogram."

“我们发现了浸润性癌症或是我们担心的癌症，这些癌症有可能更频繁地杀死接受三维乳房X光检查的女性和接受二维乳房X光检查的女性。”

Dr. Friedewald says tumors that are difficult to see on a standard mammogram are easy to find in 3 dimensions.

弗里德瓦尔德博士说，在标准的乳房X光检查中很难看到的肿瘤在三维空间中很容易找到。

Jennifer Hoeft is grateful that she had three-D mammography.

詹妮弗·霍夫特很感激她做了三维乳房X光检查。

"I truly, truly believe that the 3-D mammography is what caught my cancer early and is allowing me to pretty much live my life the way I want to."

“我真的，真的相信三维乳腺摄影术是我早期患上癌症的原因，它让我几乎可以按照自己想要的方式生活。”