Molecular breast imaging now offered in Eau Claire
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire now offers molecular breast imaging (MBI), a screening tool developed at Mayo Clinic that is used to improve breast cancer detection in women with dense breast tissue.
Molecular breast imaging uses a special camera – a gamma camera – that records the activity of a radioactive tracer. Normal tissue and cancerous tissue react differently to the tracer, which can be seen in the images as it is preferentially absorbed by rapidly dividing cells, such as in a tumor.
"MBI is a useful supplemental screening tool for women with dense breast tissue," says Cameron Leitch, M.D., lead breast radiologist at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. "Dense breast tissue is described as either heterogenously dense or extremely dense on your screening mammogram. In dense breasts, some cancers are difficult to detect with mammogram alone and MBI helps to further evaluate that dense breast tissue for screening purposes."
Two large screening MBI studies were performed at Mayo Clinic Rochester, in which women with dense breasts were invited to undergo screening mammography and screening MBI. The two tests were interpreted independently. Of all cancers detected, mammography alone detected 25 percent and the combination of mammography and MBI detected 91 percent. Therefore, the addition of MBI to mammography increased the detection of all cancers, invasive and noninvasive, by over 250 percent and increased the detection of invasive cancers by 363 percent.
The test is generally covered by insurance (although co-pays and deductibles usually apply), but patients should confirm this with their insurance company before proceeding with an MBI.
MBI is currently available at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Florida and Arizona and Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse.
Every test has pros and cons. Women should talk with their primary care provider about their breast cancer risk factors to determine if MBI is right for them.
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Dan Leae-mail: lea.dan@mayo.edu
phone: 715-838-6405