Narrator: This is Science Today. Researchers at the University of California , Davis Medical Center are working on new breast imaging technology that may one day outperform mammography and improve breast cancer survival odds. It's an adaptation of computer tomography, or CT scans, and it was developed by biomedical engineer John Boone.

Boone: Mammography is better able to see fine details, so it's sharper. What CT brings to the table really is the ability to see structures with higher contrast.

Narrator: Mammograms give radiologists two-dimensional views of the breast, whereas breast CT scans – now in clinical testing – lets them see images in 3-D.

Boone: It is important when you're talking about breast cancer screening to screen all of the tissue at risk and that includes breast tissue that goes all the way up against the chest wall.

Narrator: In the past, imaging experts assumed CT scans required too much radiation to be practical for breast screening, but Boone and his colleagues worked to lower the radiation to the same dose levels as currently practiced mammography. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.