ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers said they used a modified gamma-ray camera to find more instances and types of breast cancer than traditional mammograms could locate.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic studied 40 women whose mammograms had turned up suspicious objects. When they used a specially designed gamma-ray camera they detected four more cancers than could be seen in the mammograms. The technique, called molecular breast imaging, also detected 33 of the 36 lesions eventually found in the women during surgery.
The modified camera uses differences in the metabolic behavior of the tumor vs. normal breast tissue to detect tumors. A mammogram relies on visual differences in the appearance of tumors vs. normal tissues -- differences that often can be obscured by densities in the breast tissue.
"Approximately 25 to 40 percent of women have dense breast tissue, which decreases the chance that a cancer will be visible on their mammograms," said Dr. Douglas Collins, a Mayo Clinic radiologist who worked on the study. "With molecular breast imaging, the visibility of the tumor is not influenced by the density of the surrounding tissue, so this technique is well-suited to find cancers in women whose mammograms may not be very accurate."
