Dilon touts BSGI measurement study

May 2, 2010

Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) developer Dilon Diagnostics of Newport News, VA, is touting the results of a clinical study indicating that BSGI can accurately measure tumor size within 5 mm after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer.

That conclusion comes from a new study conducted by Dr. Christine Teal, chief of breast surgery at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC. Results were presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons annual meeting in Las Vegas.

The retrospective study evaluated 12 consecutive patients treated with neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced breast cancer. All 12 patients received BSGI before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Researchers took measurements with ultrasound and mammography and compared them to prechemotherapy BSGI measurements. Breast tumors then were measured using postchemotherapy BSGI images and compared to pathologic size at excision.

The analysis found that prechemotherapy BSGI measurements were within 5 mm of ultrasound measurements in seven of 11 patients, and within 1 cm in 10 of 11 patients. BSGI also accurately reflected postchemotherapy tumor size within 5 mm when compared to postoperative pathology specimens in all 12 patients.

The researchers also determined that correlation coefficients observed in the study were "superior to those of other modalities documented in the literature, including physical exam, mammography, ultrasonography, MRI, and FDG-PET."

Based on the results, Teal and colleagues concluded that BSGI is "accurate in establishing tumor size within 5 mm after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer."

Breast-specific gamma imaging reveals unseen cancers, December 4, 2008

Dual-head gamma camera increases breast lesion detection, November 28, 2008

BSGI sensitive in detecting cancer, study says, May 30, 2008

Breast gamma imaging spots DCIS better than mammo, MR, August 13, 2007