Positron Emission Mammography-Guided Biopsy Aids Initial Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Presurgical Planning

The study, which used the Naviscan, Inc. (San Diego, CA, USA) high-resolution breast PET scanner, otherwise known as a PEM scanner, marks the first time PET imaging alone has been able to target regions in the breast with abnormal fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and guide the extraction for histopathologic analysis.

The key aim of the study, which was published in the March/April 2011 issue of the Breast Journal, was to validate successful targeting and lesion sampling. A second objective was to confirm the safety and patient comfort during the procedure. Six physicians, using three different commercially available vacuum-assisted biopsy tools, conducted this study at five sites. A total of 24 PEM-guided biopsies were completed with 100% success.

The most important advantage of PEM-guided biopsy is the ability to target and biopsy lesions that are difficult to see on other imaging tools giving patients and physicians another option in the fight against breast cancer.

"PEM-guided biopsy is quite elegant and confers several advantages over MRI [magnetic resonance imaging]-guided biopsy," stated Dr. Wendie Berg, a diagnostic radiologist with a practice in Owings Mills (MD, USA) and coauthor of the study. "We can easily image the breast after sampling to assure removal of the target, and resample at the same setting if needed. With PEM, we also have the ability to directly image the specimens, which both further confirm successful sampling and allow us to direct the pathologist's attention to the ‘hot' specimens."

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