Molecular Breast Imaging May Provide Better Detection Than MRI for Women with Dense Breasts

According to a new study by Korean researchers, molecular breast imaging (MBI), also known as breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI), may be a better option than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for women who have a new cancer diagnosis and dense breast tissue detected by mammography. According to their findings, MBI/BSGI and MRI had nearly the same sensitivity for the detection of additional malignant tumors, but MBI/BSGI was much less likely to be positive in benign lesions.

In their study, Dr. B.S. Kim and his colleagues, from the Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine (Seoul, Korea), assessed 66 patients who had a new breast cancer diagnosis and a reported mammography breast density of greater than 50% with MBI/BSGI and MRI prior to surgery. Both MBI/BSGI and MRI detected disease not visualized by mammography; however, the MBI/BSGI was more accurate than MRI in determining if lesions were benign or malignant. Only 26% of the additional lesions identified by MRI were malignant compared to MBI/BSGI, where 76% of the lesions detected were malignant. This is significant for the newly diagnosed breast cancer patient since biopsy is required when imaging studies are positive. Therefore, MBI/BSGI could have led to a large decrease in the number of unnecessary biopsies for women in this trial. According to Dr. Kim, “The results of this study suggest that MBI/BSGI could play a crucial role as an adjunctive imaging modality which can be used to evaluate breast cancer patients with dense breasts.”

Dilon Diagnostics (Newport News, VA, USA), a brand of Dilon Technologies, Inc., cornerstone product, the Dilon 6800, is a high-resolution, small field-of-view gamma camera, optimized to perform MBI/BSGI, a molecular breast imaging procedure that images the metabolic activity of breast lesions through radiotracer uptake.

The study’s findings were published February 26, 2012, in the journal Annals of Nuclear Medicine.

Related Links:
Ewha Womans University School of Medicine
Dilon Diagnostics