Dose control

As with many imaging technologies, a big concern for MBI and BSGI that the industry has to address is radiation dose. "We're devoting a lot of effort to trying to reduce the dose; to at least get down to doses that are comparable to mammography," says O'Connor.


Another reason to devote resources to reducing dose for MBI is to protect the technologists. "[Researchers] projected at eight patients per day at eight millicuries per patient, [technologists'] doses would be four times higher than their counterparts working in general nuclear medicine and cardiology," O'Connor says. This happens because MBI technologists are often next to the patient during the entire procedure.

Although MBI is only one of a host of new modalities competing to detect cancers more precisely, it certainly has potential to come out strong, according to investigators.

"I think what you'll find over the next few years as we get toward individualized medicine, the best technique for a patient will depend on a patient's characteristics, and all of those will probably determine where MBI fits in best," says O'Connor.

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