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Oct 12, 2009 5:46 pm US/Central
New Test Gives Clearer Breast Cancer Screenings
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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With BSGI, a small amount of radioactive dye is injected. The radioactivity concentrates in the energy factories of cells, making cancer light up. (File)
CBS
When it comes to beating cancer, early detection is the key. And that's especially true for breast cancer.
Now, doctors at the Piper Breast Center in Minneapolis are using a new tool to help them narrow in on possible trouble spots that may be preventing early detection.
As Piper's medical director, radiologist Dr. Deborah Day has read countless mammograms, but even her skilled eye sometimes finds an image to be inconclusive.
That's because fibrous or dense tissue can mimic or mask possible cancer.
"As a woman when you feel a breast lump, that's the first thing you worry about," said Dr. Kara Larson. "Oh my gosh, could this be breast cancer?"
After finding a lump in a self-exam, Larson had a mammogram and an ultrasound. When both of those tests couldn't rule out cancer, the radiologist set up another test.
The tool is called breast specific gamma imaging. With BSGI, a small amount of radioactive dye is injected. The radioactivity concentrates in the energy factories of cells (mitochondria), making cancer light up.
"So there's more blood flow to the cancer cells and then the cancer cells themselves are abnormal, and they have more of these mitochondria," said Day. Pointing to an image created using BSGI, she explained, "The area of abnormal activity is white. It's whiter than any of the surrounding tissue."
What Day really likes about the machine is its negative reliability. If it looks at an area of suspicion in the breast and says there's nothing to worry about, doctors can be 95 percent sure the patient has no cancer.
Day says with this tool fewer cancers will be missed. Also, because about 60 percent of breast lumps are not cancerous, invasive procedures like biopsies may be avoided.
"We've been using it as a problem solving tool," said Day.
BSGI costs about one-fourth the cost of a breast MRI procedure, which not all women can have because of variety of factors. Day says all insurance companies are currently covering BSGI.
"So to get a clear report, basically to know that absolutely there's nothing going on on either side was very reassuring," said Larson.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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