Dear Women's Imaging Insider,
A spate of recent research studies continue to advance nonmammographic modalities for breast cancer imaging. Our Insider Exclusive focuses on the role of PET in defining disease in patients already diagnosed with breast carcinoma. While radiologists from New York City parsed breast PET referral and usage patterns at their institution, a multidisciplinary group from Seattle looked at which patients benefited most from PET exams. To read more, click here.
In other news, MRI proved its value for detecting breast tumors in women who have a family history of, or genetic predisposition to, breast cancer. In a related report, a Canadian group found that breast-feeding could significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 mutation carriers.
Finally, physicists from North Carolina are diligently developing a form of neutron-based molecular imaging, called NSECT, that could reveal breast cancer at the most basic level, long before anatomical changes are seen.
Of course, mammography is far from being obsolete. A study in Radiology illustrated that boosting mammography with computer-aided detection (CAD) has the potential to significantly decrease the false-negative rate.
