Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) can be an adjunct to mammography to detect  hard-to-detect tumors as well as to screen high risk women with normal mammograms.
Breast cancer affects more women than any other non-skin cancer and, according to the American Cancer Society, accounts for more than 40,000 deaths annually in the U.S.

The best way to decrease breast cancer mortality is early diagnosis and treatment. Breast cancer is completely curable if detected at an early stage. The gold standard in breast cancer detection is a combination of mammography with physical examination. But even this can miss some type of cancers. The new study presented at the annual meeting of Radiology Society of North America finds a solution in BSGI.

Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) is an emerging molecular imaging technology. The technique utilises a high-resolution gamma camera that allows for imaging with very mild compression of the breast. It is done after injecting a low-dose nuclear material called a radiotracer, which is absorbed by the cells. Because cancerous cells have a higher rate of metabolic activity, the tracer is taken up by these cells at a higher level than in normal cells.

"BSGI can identify the most difficult to detect breast cancer—invasive lobular carcinoma," said lead author Rachel F. Brem, M.D., professor of radiology and director of the Breast Imaging and Interventional Center at The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. "It also can help us detect additional lesions of all types of breast cancer in women whose mammograms show only one suspicious lesion."

In the study, the records of 159 women with at least one suspicious or cancerous lesion found by mammography or physical exam, where reviewed. They had undergone BSGI to determine if additional lesions were present.

BSGI results showed an additional suspicious lesion missed by mammography and physical exam in 46 (29 percent) of the women. In 14 (36 percent) of the 39 women who underwent biopsy, the newly discovered lesions were cancerous.

"The data suggest that BSGI allows for the diagnosis of more and earlier breast cancers," Dr. Brem said.

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