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Naviscan PET Systems®, a company specializing in organ-specific high resolution PET scanners, announced today at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's Annual Meeting, new clinical data using the PEM Flex scanner in breast cancer management. The PEM Flex™ Solo II is a commercially available, FDA cleared scanner that utilizes PET technology for the breast application known as positron emission mammography, PEM.

Results presented from an independent study of 136 patients comparing the accuracy of PEM and MRI in the pre-surgical planning of breast cancer patients indicated the PEM technology is more sensitive than MRI in detecting the smallest cancers. PEM demonstrated 91 per cent sensitivity in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) compared to 83 per cent with MRI and better sensitivity in cancers less than five millimeters in size. PEM also detected a two millimeter DCIS case shown to be negative on MRI.

"In our research, PEM accurately detected and characterized the smallest and most difficult to see cancers -- specifically DCIS, which is often impossible to see with other imaging modalities," said Kathy Schilling, M.D. and medical director of the Center for Breast Care in Boca Raton, Florida, who has been studying PEM for more than two years. "The ability to image and diagnose these early stage cancers provides the potential for cure and will significantly impact breast cancer management." Dr. Schilling has been using the PEM Flex scanner in her practice as a tool for evaluating additional and unsuspected disease in the breast and compares these findings with that of MRI. She is also a site principal investigator in a 400 patient, multi-center clinical trial comparing PEM and MRI in breast cancer patients to be completed in 2008.