Positron Emission Mammography with Image-Guided Breast Irradiation Therapy to Optimize Breast Cancer Treatment

An image-guided breast irradiation procedure is a technique for whole breast irradiation that is designed to target and deliver a boost dose accurately and effectively to the lumpectomy cavity margin. Combined with positron emission mammography's (PEM) three-dimensional (3D) metabolic perspective, physicians will be able to better visualize the region of interest prior to deploying the image-guided system, which lowers dose to healthy tissue as radiation is focused on the intended target sparing exposure to the heart, lungs, and the uninvolved breast.

First Coast Oncology (Jacksonville, FL, USA) has considerably enhanced its ability to treat breast cancer with the addition of a Naviscan PEM scanner. The facility will be among the first in the United States to use both a PEM scanner and the AccuBoost image-guided breast irradiation procedure to optimize their therapy treatment.

Scot Ackerman, M.D., medical director of First Coast Oncology, said, "The acquisition of the Naviscan PEM scanner demonstrates First Coast Oncology's commitment to securing the latest technology to detect and treat breast cancer as well as being able to assess response to therapy. I expect that PEM will prove indispensable in the effective management of breast cancer for both our patients and referring physicians.”

The Naviscan (San Diego, CA, USA) PEM scanner utilizes positron emission tomography (PET) imaging technology to produce high-resolution tomographic images at 2-mm resolution, allowing physicians to visualize breast tumors approximately the size of a grain of rice. The scanner is the size of a mammography unit and consists of two high-resolution detector heads, which are placed in close proximity to the breast. Compared to the higher-force compression necessary for mammography, the Naviscan PEM scanner uses gentle breast immobilization.

Naviscan, Inc. develops and markets compact, high-resolution PET scanners intended to provide organ-specific molecular imaging, guide radiologic and surgical procedures, and advance new clinical therapies. The Naviscan PET scanner is currently installed and available in breast and imaging centers throughout the United States as well as utilized in clinical research studies, funded in part by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA). Naviscan is the first company to obtain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of a high-resolution PET scanner designed to image small body parts.

The Accuboost system was developed by Advanced Radiation Therapy, LLC (ART; Billerica, MA, USA).

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Advanced Radiation Therapy