February 06, 2017 SALEM, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gamma Medica, a leader in molecular breast imaging (MBI) technology, today announced that it has partnered with Medical Imaging, Inc. and Capital X-Ray, Inc., leading providers of medical imaging equipment, to give women in Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Idaho and parts of Oregon, Montana, Wyoming and Washington State access to Gamma Medica’s LumaGEM® Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) system.

Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) is a secondary screening and diagnostic tool for women with increased risk of breast cancer due to the presence of dense breast tissue. Approximately 50 percent of U.S. women are reported to have dense breast tissue1; however, many women are unaware that they have dense breasts and if they do, they may not understand this could also mean an increased risk of breast cancer. Because dense breast tissue and cancer both appear white on mammograms, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two—it’s like trying to find a snowflake in a snowstorm. This can lead to false negatives, unwarranted biopsies or delayed diagnoses.2

“Through our partnerships with Capital X-Ray, Inc. and Medical Imaging, Inc., women who previously did not have access to the secondary screening technology will finally be able to experience more accurate cancer screenings using LumaGEM MBI,” said Philip Croxford, Gamma Medica president and CEO. “Each of our partners has well-established relationships with care providers in their territories. By leveraging their customer network, Gamma Medica will continue to meet the rising demand for earlier cancer detection in women who are higher risk using state of the art technology.”

A breakthrough retrospective clinical study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology provided further clinical evidence that MBI is an effective supplementary screening method to standard mammography and/or tomosynthesis (3D mammography) in women who have dense breast tissue or are at higher intrinsic risk of breast cancer. This study reported that MBI was able to detect an additional 7.7 cancers per 1,000 women screened compared to mammography screening alone (3/1000). There is also a two times improvement over ultrasound, a typical secondary modality used today. In addition, approximately 85 percent of these cancers were found to be invasive, of which 81 percent were node negative, enabling cancers to be detected at an earlier stage and presenting the patient with a likelihood of a better prognosis.3 This study complements an earlier published [2015] prospective blinded study that was conducted by the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.4

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