SAN DIEGO, June 18 /PRNewswire/ — Naviscan’s Positron
Emission Mammography (PEM) technology was the focus of several
presentations and discussions at the Society of Nuclear Medicine
Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City.
The focus represents a growing interest and validation of how
PEM can play an important role in the fight against breast cancer.
PEM scanners are high-resolution breast PET systems that can
show the location as well as the metabolic phase of a lesion. This
information is critical in determining whether a lesion is
malignant and influences the course of treatment. Other imaging
systems, such as mammography and ultrasound, show only the
location, not the metabolic phase. PEM scanners, which are about
the size of an ultrasound system, are manufactured by Naviscan,
Inc. and have been commercially available since 2007.
A presentation with considerable attention was of the release of
the findings from the NIH-sponsored clinical study comparing PEM
with breast MRI. This multi-site study (NIH Grant 5R44CA103102) of
hundreds of women with newly diagnosed breast cancer shows that PEM
may reduce unnecessary breast biopsies. The study found that PEM
was significantly more precise at identifying benign and cancerous
lesions, in what scientists call “Positive Predictive Value” or
“PPV,” therefore reducing the number of unnecessary biopsies.
Other presentations on PEM were led by leading researchers from
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Johns
Hopkins, Swedish Cancer Institute, University of Washington and Boston University. These presentations
covered not only the clinical advantages of PEM today, but also
exciting new areas of focus.
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