Low-dose PEM shows promise in breast cancer detection

Low-dose positron emission mammography (PEM) can detect invasive breast cancer in a feasible manner, according to research published February 9 in Radiology: Imaging Cancer. A team led by Vivianne Freitas, MD, from the University of Toronto found that PEM performed comparably to MRI in breast cancer detection and could serve as a supplemental imaging method for evaluating dense breasts. "This groundbreaking imaging technique presents a compelling alternative, mirroring the clinical utility of traditional mammography and MRI but utilizing considerably lower doses of radiation when compared with previously molecular breast imaging," Freitas told AuntMinnie.com. "It holds promise for screening and diagnostic applications, potentially revolutionizing how radiologists approach breast cancer detection." While conventional mammography remains the gold standard in breast cancer screening, its performance suffers when imaging dense breasts. This is where supplemental imaging such as MRI and molecular breast imaging come into play. PEM is one molecular breast imaging method that has shown promise in lowering the number of false-positive cases, owing to its superior specificity over MRI. However, PEM’s higher radiation dose has steered radiologists away from using the modality. Freitas and colleagues investigated the feasibility of low-dose PEM and compared its performance to that of MRI in identifying breast cancer, as well as determining the local extent of cancers found. For ...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Womens Imaging Source Type: news