Dense breast tissue is a non-issue for molecular breast imaging
According to the findings of a team of radiologists and surgeons at the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington DC, USA, it appears that Molecular Breast Imaging is capable of detecting cancer regardless of breast tissue density.
Recently published in the American Journal of Roentgenology, the study covered data from over 300 breast cancer patients that had undergone the MBI/BSGI procedure.
The identical high breast cancer detection rate of 95% was recorded for women with or without breast density, suggesting that breast tissue density was simply a non-issue for MBI/BSGI according to a Douglas Kieper, Vice President for Science and Technology at Dilon Technologies, a manufacturer of Molecular Breast Imaging systems.
In a number of studies conducted on the efficiency of mammography in patients with dense breast tissue, as much as 50% of breast cancers were missed. While breast MRI is known to be more sensitive than mammography or ultrasound in women with dense breasts, it does come with a significantly higher cost per examination.
Molecular breast imaging (MBI) on the other hand, also referred to as Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI), is an imaging procedure that has, in several clinical studies, proven to be better than mammography or ultrasound for detecting breast cancer, in women with dense breasts in particular.
Additionally, the MBI/BSGI procedure is cost effective at only a third of the cost of an MRI and is accessible to patients who cannot have an MRI, such as women with pacemakers, those who are claustrophobic or those on dialysis.
Up until recently, women who have dense breasts were generally unaware of their breast density or of the possibility that their “negative” mammogram might be missing cancers. This has since changed, as a number of US states have passed legislation making it mandatory for breast centers to inform patients with dense breasts that their mammogram might potentially be inconclusive.
Source: Dilon Diagnostics
Image credit: Google
24 February 2014
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Imaging, MRI, Mammography, Molecular, breast cancer, Breast density, Dilon, MBI
Dense breast tissue is a non-issue for molecular breast imaging According to the findings of a team of radiologists and surgeons at the George Washingto...
