A new device known as a dual modality tomographic scanner, developed by researchers from the University's radiology department, has the potential to become more effective than mammograms for detecting breast cancer in its early stages.
The device conducts structural imaging like a mammogram, but it combines this with molecular breast imaging in an alternating manner, Assoc. Radiology Prof. Mark Williams said. From those two images, a 3-D picture can be formed.
"Because they are one right after the other, the images are fused together," he said.
Jennifer Harvey - the head of breast imaging division who collaborated with Williams on the project - added that the device does more than just project images.
"This technology doesn't just look at the anatomy of the breast but the function and the tissues that are more active like cancer are going to take up the tracer," she said.
The new technology was first tested in 2008 through 2009 with a pilot study of women who had scheduled biopsies at the University breast care center, Williams said.
"We chose that particular set of women and had the biopsy results already, so we could tell if it was really cancer," he said. "The study is still going on. It's not finalized by any means; we need to do a lot more scanning and have more statistics before we can come to any firm conclusions."
Results so far have been "outstanding," Williams said, but the figures will likely change as more statistics arrive. The project has been evolving over the past decade, he said, but it was not until 2005 that the researchers began 3-D dual modality imaging. Before that time, imaging was entirely 2-D.
The researchers received funding from several different sources, including the National Institutes of Health, Susan G. Komen foundation and the department of defense breast cancer program.\nHarvey expressed enthusiasm for the new device but said it is still in its early stages.
"This is a great tool for finding breast cancers, but it is imperfect, particularly with people with dense breast tissue," she said. "The bottom line is that this may help us do a better job of finding early stages of breast cancers when they are still treatable."
The study is still open and any woman who is scheduled to undergo a biopsy can enroll, Williams said.
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