Study finds BSGI to be a cost-effective breast diagnostic imaging modality

Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI), a molecular breast imaging technique with comparable sensitivity to breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting breast carcinoma when used in pre-surgical planning for patients with known cancer diagnoses and is substantially less expensive than MRI, according to findings presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Breast Cancer Symposium in San Francisco, California.

"BSGI proved to be a cost-effective breast diagnostic imaging modality, able to detect mammographically occult breast cancers and provide comparable sensitivity to MRI at a higher patient compliance rate and lower cost," said Dr. Margaret Bertrand, Director of Breast Imaging at Solis Bertrand Breast Center in Greensboro, N.C.

In this study, BSGI was performed prior to needle biopsy on 123 patients with 126 breast carcinomas who subsequently had a post-biopsy, preoperative breast MRI for surgical planning in accordance with the ACS guidelines. BSGI and MRI both detected 123 of the 126 malignancies, yielding a sensitivity of 97 percent for both studies. Eleven percent of the cancers found with BSGI were detected in patients with equivocal or negative mammograms. Four patients with cancer were excluded from the study because they were unable to undergo breast MRI. The cost for conducting BSGI in this group of patients was $37,321.87 compared to the cost for conducting breast MRI in this group was $122,314.89.

BSGI for the study was conducted using a Dilon 6800 Gamma Camera, a high-resolution, small field-of-view gamma camera, optimized to perform BSGI. BSGI is a molecular breast imaging technique that can see lesions independent of tissue density and discover very early stage cancers. With BSGI, the patient receives a pharmaceutical tracing agent that is absorbed by all the cells in the body. Due to their increased rate of metabolic activity, cancerous cells in the breast absorb a greater amount of the tracing agent than the normal surrounding tissue and generally appear as focal areas on the BSGI image.