Accurate breast imaging technologies have been a hot political issue in the world of medicine for the last decade. With the re-evaluation of the effectiveness of mammograms by the American Cancer Society in 2009, experts have begun to debate whether mammography is indeed a flawed technology, providing less than accurate diagnostic information in many cases. In addition, annual mammograms subject the patient to damaging levels of radiation and often steep health care bills. The heart of this issue is not modern medicine's politics and practices, but rather how to detect breast cancer in the majority of women early enough to save lives.

Deborah Rhodes, a physician at the Mayo Clinic, became passionately involved in the field of breast imaging technology when one of her pregnant patients found a breast lump, which fortunately was benign. The patient posed the question of how she would be able to know if any future mass was benign or malignant? How confident was Dr. Rhodes that any tumor would be found on a mammogram in this young woman?

This began a journey of partnership between members of a number of disciplines, putting their heads together in order to adapt existing technologies for more accurate breast imaging. What these researchers came up with was a technique called Molecular Breast Imagining (MBI).

Although still in the testing phase, MBI uses gamma technology and promises to be a very important imaging option because of its accuracy for women who have dense breasts; its use of a radioactive tracer – which is taken up by rapidly dividing cells, leaving normal cells alone, and uses the molecular characteristics of tumors which highlight abnormal tissue irrespective of breast density; and its use of pain-free compression to obtain images. For more information about breast health and treatment options, download my complimentary breast cancer wellness guide here: www.breasthealthsolutions.org.

One crucial fact for women to know before they opt for a mammogram is that the higher your breast density, the lower the accuracy of your mammogram. This is a fact that has fueled the controversies over what age is most appropriate to begin screening women with mammography. Of women in the 40-50 age range, two thirds tend to have dense breast tissue, as do women using hormone replacement therapy, as well as one-third of women who are postmenopausal. As women age, the breast tissue tends to become less dense and more fatty, making mammograms more accurate for these women.

Breast density tends to be genetically determined. High breast density itself is a greater risk factor for breast cancer than having a mother or sister with breast cancer. Although this information is very important, it has not been widely discussed and patients are rarely informed of the health implications of their breast density.

Both tumors and dense breast tissue appear white on a mammogram, so it's very difficult to distinguish between the two. According to Dr. Rhodes, mammograms find over 80 percent of tumors in fatty, low-density breasts but as few as 40 percent in extremely dense breasts. Even the much-acclaimed advent of digital technology has not shown an increase in accuracy over traditional mammography, except in the group of women under age 40 with dense breasts. In this group, mammograms still found only 60 percent of breast lesions.

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