Molecular Breast Imaging Outperforms MRI for Patients With Inconclusive Results in the Diagnosis...( CHICAGO Dec. 3 /- Breast-Specific Gam...),Health

CHICAGO, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI) has equivalent sensitivity and better specificity than breast MRI in patients with inconclusive findings after mammography and ultrasound in the diagnosis of breast cancer, according to findings presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). BSGI is a molecular breast imaging technique used as an adjunctive tool to mammography that can identify lesions independent of tissue density.

"The purpose of this study was to compare MRI and BSGI in women with indeterminate findings after applying mammography and ultrasound. We found BSGI has virtually equal sensitivity and better specificity than breast MRI in the diagnosis of breast cancer," said Dr. Leora Lanzkowsky.

Dr. Leora Lanzkowsky, as Medical Director of the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, CA and her colleagues conducted BSGI and breast MRI on patients with complex, inconclusive mammographic and/or ultrasonic findings. In their group of 48 patients with 63 abnormalities, BSGI and MRI yielded consistent results in 37 of these areas and were inconsistent in 26. MRI was inconclusive in a greater number of benign cases -- 10 versus three on BSGI. Overall, in this group of patients with difficult to diagnose breast findings, the sensitivity of BSGI and MRI was 96 percent and 88 percent respectively; specificity was 46 percent and 27 percent respectively.

The advantages of BSGI over MRI include ease of interpretation with fewer images generated, and better tolerance of the test by patients. In addition, BSGI can be used in all patients including those with ferromagnetic implants or renal insufficiency.

BSGI for the study was conducted using a Dilon 6800 Gamma Camera, a high-resolution, small field-of-view gamma camera, optimized to perform BSGI. With BSGI, the patient receives a pharmaceutical tracing agent that is abs
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