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| 15 Feb 2006 11:54:53 am |
 New 3-D Breast Scanner To Replace Mammography |
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Photo: Martin Tornai, Ph.D., associate professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Duke University Medical Center with the 3-D breast scanner (photo credit Duke University Medical Center).
Researchers at Duke University have created a new type of breast scanner that will dramatically improve their ability to visualize small tumors while also reducing radiation exposure to one-tenth that of normal mammograms. This may also provide relief from the often-painful experience of breast compression that is involved in the traditional mammograms.
These new scanner uses computed tomography (CT), which is the same technique used in obtaining a CT scan of the chest, but with a unique variation: it provides a three-dimensional image of the breast. The new scanner is capable of rotating around the breast to obtain a complete image of the breast, from the nipple to the chest wall. On the other hand, traditional mammograms provide only a two-dimensional image and they compress the breast, thereby distorting the image and causing discomfort for many women.
The Duke researchers have successfully demonstrated their new CT scanner can detect lesions as small as 5 mm in artificial breast models and in cadavers. Current threshold of detection of soft tissue tumors in mammograms are estimated to be around 1 cm, which is about the size of a marble. However mammogram can detect far smaller micro-calcifications, which could be indicators of disease.
The Duke scientists expect that this scanner would be ready for use within two years and is in the process of developing a start-up company to commercialize the device.
Traditional mammography fails to detect some tumors because it is two-dimensional and thus projects a flattened image of the breast. The compression and two-dimensional image cause overlapped tissues to obscure some tumors. With 3-D imaging, the breast is fully depicted and the contrast between normal and cancerous tissues would be more apparent. |
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Category : General
| Posted By : Sherin |  Comments[50] |  Trackbacks [0] |
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| 15 Feb 2006 11:27:12 am |
| Ann Marie Rogers Loses Landmark Case |
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Last week I wrote about Ann Marie Rogers, who had gone to the High Court demanding the NHS to provide funding for Herceptin for her breast cancer treatment. Sad to say that she had lost her landmark court case against Swindon Primary Care Trust (PCT) in Wiltshire. This was the first of its kind to reach court. Rogers said that, so far, she has spent £5,000 on this potentially life-saving drug and is unable to afford the cost of her treatment any longer.
High Court judge Justice Bean ruled that there is no obligation on the part of the PCT in Wiltshire to provide funding for this treatment. Ms. Rogers had argued that original decision by PCT, not to fund the "wonder drug" was like "a death sentence".
Her council explained to the court that Herceptin is capable of reducing the chance of recurrence of her aggressive cancer by 50 percent and attacked PCT's policy of only offering Herceptin when a cancer was in its early stages if there were "exceptional" circumstances.
Herceptin is not approved in England and Wales for early stage breast cancer, and the rules for prescribing new drugs in England and Wales state that, until they had been formally licensed, they should only be funded in exceptional circumstances, and Ms Rogers's case was not in that category.
Philip Havers QC, appearing for the PCT, told the court: "The fact is this drug has not yet been licensed as a treatment for early stage breast cancer, or appraised by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) as to its efficacy and its safety." |
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Category : Breast cancer treatment
| Posted By : Sherin | Comments[46] | Trackbacks [0] |
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