★★☆3-D Technology Saves Lives

There are two stories in this article. Read and understand the story. If you may have any difficult words to pronounce and words you cannot understand, always ask your teacher.

*Teachers will divide the article into 2-3 paragraphs to help you understand and check the pronunciation of the difficult words.

Vocabulary

*Read the words carefully.

1. Three-dimensional /ˈθriː-dəˈmɛnʃənəl/ (adj.)having or seeming to have length, width, and depth
2. mammograms /ˈma-mə-ˌgram/ (n.) a photograph of the breasts made by X-rays; also : the procedure for producing a mammogram
3. detect /di-ˈtekt/ (v.)to discover or notice the presence of (something that is hidden or hard to see, hear, taste, etc.)
4. anxiety /aŋ-ˈzī-ə-tē/ (n.)fear or nervousness about what might happen
5. pretty /ˈpri-tē/ (adv.) moderately large : considerable

Article

3-D Technology Saves Lives

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 (1)Three-dimensional technology — known as three-D — gives depth to objects that would otherwise appear two-dimensional, or flat. Three-D makes movies and video games look more realistic. And now it could help save lives.

(2) 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.

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

(4) “Even a month before it was detected, I went for a sonogram and they told me, ‘You’re fine, go home.'”

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

(6) Many doctors – including cancer surgeon Negar Golesorkhi – say standard mammography does not find enough cancerous tumors. 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.

(7) “When we look for cancer on a mammogram in dense breast tissue, we’re looking for a polar bear in a snow storm, so it would be very difficult to find.”

(8) 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.

(9) “It was a very small tumor. It was only an 8 millimeter tumor that couldn’t be felt.”

(10) 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.

(11) 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.

(12) “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. At the same time, fewer people had to come back for unnecessary testing which creates unnecessary anxiety.”

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

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

(15) “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.”

(16) Dr. Friedewald told VOA that she expects three-D to replace the usual two-D mammograms in time. Her study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Discussion

*Let’s talk about the article base on the questions below

1. What is 3-D technology? In what other aspects can we use 3-D technology?
2. How do you think 3-D technology can help people with cancer?
3. How often do you visit the doctor? Why do you think it is important to have a yearly check up?

Tags: Education, Health, people, Science, Technology