Among those studies is the 2006 research of The Cone Beam Breast Computed Tomography scanner, which takes 360-degree views of breast anatomy, with no need to compress the breast between cold glass plates. It is a new kind of test to
screen for breast cancer. "We have one case in which a cancer shows up phenomenally well using this new imaging system, whereas when you look at the same lesion on a mammogram, it is hard to detect," said study leader Dr. Avice O'Connell, Director of Women's Imaging at the Highland Breast Imaging Center, on release of the study.

Their new scan produces three-dimensional pictures, which are better at showing whether a spot on the X-ray is benign or malignant, the researchers at the University of Rochester in New York said. It can also provide pictures of tissue

around the ribs and outer breast toward the armpit, where 50 percent of cancers are found, the researchers told a Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.

PET/PEM has a role both before and during treatment

According to Jacqueline Brunetti, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Radiology, Columbia University, PET imaging is a clear advance in the approach to staging and monitoring breast cancer. Positron imaging offers better accuracy than conventional imaging in the identification of metastatic disease both in the initial staging of breast cancer and in follow-up.

In the future, further refinements in scanner technology and new radiopharmaceuticals will likely result in better identification of smaller lesions. Dedicated breast PET/CT or PET/Mammography units show promise in improved detection in primary breast cancer, while also providing a method for image guided biopsy.

Also known as PEM (Positron Emission Mammography), De Paredes says that it's a technology somewhat similar to an MRI in that it's used in a cancer patient to look at the extent of a tumor, but it hasn't been studied by any means to the degree that MRI has.

PEM is believed to be of great value in the preoperative identification of non-invasive breast cancer called Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), which is often difficult to quantify with mammography and MRI. PEM has been reported to have a 91% sensitivity for DCIS which far exceeds all other imaging modalities.

Another recent nuclear modality which has proven useful as a second step, if the initial mammogram is inconclusive, is Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI). A small amount of the radiotracer Technicium Tc 99m, is delivered to a patient.

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