MRI gains in cancer detection
Nathan Cumberlidge, MRI manager, with new MRI coil.
Posted: 16 October 2009
MERIDEN — MidState Medical Center is an early adopter of new technology that enhances the use of magnetic resonance imaging in detecting breast cancer. So early, the inventor of the technology is coming to Meriden to talk about it to physicians and other medical personnel.
Magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, is used to detect cancer in high-risk patients. General screening is done with the less expensive mammogram and ultrasound. But Cameron Piron envisions the day when MRI will be a less expensive and increasingly recommended option.
“We’re getting to the point where we’re wondering whether this will be suitable for a general screening,” he said.
Piron is president and co-founder of Sentinelle Medical Inc., a Toronto-based medical devices company. His approach to MRI breast-cancer screening adapts the machine to the patient, rather than the other way around.
MRI uses coils, which are like antennas that send and receive signals. In this case, the signals produce images that more precisely reveal abnormalities.
Before Piron’s device, the coils for breast-cancer detection were a one-size-fits-all option, non-adjustable rings that fitted around the breasts. Not only was this uncomfortable, some women couldn’t use the device because it was more a one-size-doesn’t-quite-fit-all.
Piron’s device is highly adjustable, and can accommodate a woman up to 550 pounds.
“The better the fit on the body, the better the images,” said Dr. Gary J. Dee, a MidState radiologist.
“The big problem with breast imagery is getting a coil that could configure to any woman’s breast size,” he said.
The better view, so to speak, allows for improved screening of lesions at areas that have been problematic, such as near the chest wall.
“You now see things inside the breast you’ve never been able to see before,” Piron said.
Other advantages include no radiation, a shorter examination time and the ability to adjust the coil at the time of the examination to take biopsies of suspect masses.
“It gives flexibility in how we do biopsies and biopsies come quicker,” said Dr. Linda S. Durhan, another MidState radiologist.
The technology is also useful in the examination of dense breasts, typical among young women, said Durhan.
“It’s an excellent piece of equipment,” said Nathan Cumberlidge, MRI manager. “It’s specific to every single patient.”
First available less than a year ago, the technology has been in use at MidState since June, and is now employed both in Meriden and at the MidState radiology service in Wallingford.
Use of the new technology is consistent with MidState’s efforts to identify those at high risk for developing breast cancer. Following lung cancer, breast cancer is the leading cancer killer among American women. In January, the hospital launched a comprehensive risk-assessment program to screen for the genetic and other risks for the disease.
For some women, even the recommended annual mammograms can be a source of apprehension. The hospital wants to help them gain “a better understanding of what their risks are,” said Dee.
“There are a lot of people in general who are in the high-risk population and don’t even know it,” he said.
A breast cancer risk tool is available on the Web site of MidState Radiology Associates, at www.viewrad.com.
Piron is heading to a MidState symposium on Thursday, when he will talk to surgeons and oncologists about his MRI equipment.
This type of preventive medicine can have “a huge impact on the cancer management in a community,” said Piron. By investing in such technology, MidState is serving as a model for community hospitals, he said.
“This is really what should be happening,” Piron said. “So they should be held in esteem for that.”
Submitted by Jeff Kurz on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 11:42
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