Gamma Medica-Ideas, a leader in providing next-generation medical imaging devices for the pre-clinical and clinical markets, has announced the sale of a dual-headed LumaGEM® system for applications such as Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI).

Gamma Medica-Ideas, a leader in providing next-generation medical imaging devices for the pre-clinical and clinical markets, announced today the sale of a dual-headed LumaGEM® system for applications such as Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI). This dual head system is the first of its kind. Gamma Medica-Ideas' first dual-headed LumaGEM system is being sold to SILK Diagnostic Imaging of McKinney, Texas.

Dr. David Hickey of SILK said: "'Gamma Medica-Ideas' dualhead LumaGEM will allow us to offer the finest possible molecular breast imaging to our patients in half the time of a single head system, without any reduction -- in fact, with enhancement -- of diagnostic capabilities." Dr. Hickey is confident that real progress in medicine is being achieved here through a comfortable and high tech imaging experience for women's breast imaging, which will become branded and synonymous with a new standard and experience for women's imaging.

Gamma Medica-Ideas' LumaGEM® is a dedicated gamma camera used for diagnostic imaging, including Molecular Breast Imaging. It has been marketed up to this point as a single-headed system, and such systems are installed in North America and Europe (including University of Tor Vergata and University of Sassari in Italy; Radium Hospital in Oslo, Norway) where they are being used to provide patients with the benefits of functional breast imaging. A prototype dualhead LumaGEM® for Molecular Breast Imaging has been in use at the Mayo Clinic for the last two years.

The LumaGEM system features fully solid state digital detection utilizing eV Products ^TM cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) to provide superior resolution compared with the conventional scintillation camera technology traditionally used in gamma cameras. It also allows minimal dead space at the edges of the image, permitting the closest access to the chest wall. The new dual-headed LumaGEM camera features a gantry that is very versatile in positioning the patient, with a full range of motion.

Gamma Medica-Ideas' unique patented mounting mechanism, allowing the use of light breast compression, ensures that the radiologist can obtain images using any standard mammography view. LumaGEM provides unparalleled resolution and is designed for optimal use with molecular imaging pharmaceuticals such as Sestamibi and similar agents that localize in neovascular structures for breast cancer detection.

The rationale behind a dual-headed system lies in achieving closest proximity to potential lesions in the breast and cutting the imaging time significantly. In single-headed systems, the fall-off of spatial resolution with distance can cause low-contrast lesions located opposite a single detector to be missed, whereas a second detector can find otherwise missed lesions due to its proximity.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic and GM-I have demonstrated that use of a dual-headed CZT system shows increased sensitivity compared with single-headed systems. "Our ultimate goal is to detect small cancers that may be inconspicuous or invisible on a mammogram for high-risk women with dense breasts," says Dr. O'Connor (Mayo Clinic News, December 16, 2006).

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