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GE Healthcare announced its collaboration in two clinical trials on investigational molecular breast imaging system for early breast cancer detection.

Investigational Molecular Breast Imaging System for Early Breast Cancer Detection

GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, announced its collaboration in two clinical trials with the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel and Hamilton Health Sciences Hospital in Ontario, Canada on the use of a novel technology that may assist in assessment and early detection of breast cancer in women who are at high risk for the disease.

GE Healthcare’s investigational Molecular Breast Imaging ( MBI ) system is a gamma camera dedicated for breast imaging based on accumulation of a radioactive tracer in hypermetabolic cancer cells. The innovation of the MBI technology is the use of imaging detectors, Cadmium Zinc Telluride ( CZT ), to replace the standard NaI detectors routinely used for gamma cameras, in a dedicated breast device. Extensive early clinical work done in the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. shows encouraging results with the use of MBI technology.

In these two prospective studies, the diagnostic accuracy of MBI will be determined in patients at high risk for breast cancer, including patients with dense breast tissue in whom conventional modalities used for breast, X-ray mammography and ultrasonography, are suboptimal.

“Breast cancer is a foremost health problem for women worldwide and it is growing in numbers,” said Nathan Hermony, GE Healthcare Nuclear Medicine global manager. “Early detection is critical for improving breast cancer survival rates. This technology is intended to improve early detection in women who are at high risk for developing breast cancer, or in women with dense breasts who are less likely to benefit from conventional mammography .”

Several medical research centers showed great interest in receiving the first GE Healthcare MBI systems for clinical trials. Two centers, outside the U.S. were selected; Hamilton Health Sciences Hospital in Ontario, Canada, and Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center, Israel. Both centers have started the evaluation.

Hamilton Health Sciences ( HHS ) was selected for the clinical trials based on the strength of its internationally recognized breast cancer research, and expertise in nuclear medicine. HHS also benefits from solid, collaborative partnerships with the Ontario Clinical Oncology Group ( OCOG ), the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research ( OICR ) and the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization ( CPDC ), a new world-class organization focused on the development and commercialization of molecular imaging probes and related technologies.

The team in Hamilton is running a Prospective Pilot Study to explore the ability of the GE Healthcare MBI system to detect breast cancer, and to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and safety of using a MBI Gamma camera in women at high risk of developing breast cancer. Dr Mark Levine, Dr. Karen Gulenchyn and Dr. John Valliant developed the project for the trial.

The Institute of Nuclear Medicine in the Tel Aviv Souraskiy Medical Center (tasmc.org.il/e/272) is running a clinical trial for early detection of breast cancer in women where current imaging techniques, mainly mammography, are less effective. The trial is headed by Einat Even-Sapir, MD, PhD, Head of the Institute for Nuclear Medicine with Dr. Hedva Lerman as a principle investigator The purpose of the study is to assess the clinical performance of the new technology specifically in areas where current clinical techniques are not optimal: women with dense breast tissue, after previous surgery and women with locally advanced breast cancer Before and after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

Source: GE Healthcare