Ambiguity is the bane of every radiologist. And, for mammographers, it can be the difference between life and death. GE Healthcare has recently introduced a new technology to the world market that promises to take any guess work out of breast cancer diagnoses.
SenoBright Contrast Enhanced Spectral Mammography (CESM) technology allows radiologists and women’s health physicians to detect and diagnose cancer with more confidence—even in the densest part of the breast tissue—more rapidly, and accurately.
The technology, which has yet to be cleared by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, works on the same principle as a multiple-flash, red-eye reduction feature in a digital camera. Using x-rays at multiple energies to create two exposures, the resulting images specifically illuminate and highlight areas of angiogenesis. In addition, CESM shows the potential for measuring the extension of the lesion to help in the planning of surgery and treatment.
Unlike standard mammography, patients being imaged using CESM are first injected with a standard iodine contrast agent, and after two minutes undergo a five-minute digital mammography examination. According to a company release, CESM images are acquired in familiar mammography views, so they can be quickly and easily correlated with standard results, facilitating interpretation by other specialists.
(Source: Press Release)
