Hamilton doctors hope to revolutionize breast cancer screening with a new test that detects cancer earlier and more accurately.
Area women will be among the first in the world to have access to molecular breast imaging when clinical trials start at Henderson General Hospital within a year.
Scientists compare the promising new technology to using a pregnancy test instead of waiting to see a telltale baby bump. "You can now see tumours you could never see before and you can see them when they're very small," says Dr. John Valliant, CEO and scientific director of the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization at McMaster University. His centre creates molecular imaging probes, which are essentially a beacon injected intravenously to go to the tumour and light it up.
GE Healthcare, which is part of General Electric, is supplying a suite of cutting edge technologies to take pictures so doctors can see the beacon. GE searched globally before deciding on Hamilton to test its medical devices.
"It really is from our perspective one of the leading centres in the country," says Peter Robertson, general manager of GE Healthcare Canada and a Hamiltonian.
Molecular breast imaging is particularly effective for women with dense breast tissue, who are often young. It's tough now to spot tumours in these women even using the most up-to-date mammography.
"Most cancers have been growing for three to five years before we can detect them," says Dr. Douglas A. Collins, who researches molecular breast imaging at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "That's like saying we can only detect pregnancy (when) we can look at the abdomen of a woman at three to five months and see the bump."
The new test is also expected to save women from the agony of both false negatives and positives that have plagued mammography. The traditional screening method misses about 15 per cent of tumours. As well, out of every 10 women found to have abnormalities, only one or two actually have cancer.
"The bottom line is it's not as accurate as we hope it is," says Blair Lancaster, executive director of Breast Cancer Support Services. "Cancers are often missed."
She has a pre-breast cancer condition that requires a mammogram every three months. But like many women, she finds it "unnerving and uncomfortable."
Mammography was so stressful she opted to be tested only once a year. "There are definitely a lot of problems with mammography but up to now it has been the best thing we've had," she says. "It's been a hope they'd find something better that is more accurate and easier... If this new type of testing could do some of that, it would be absolutely amazing and would have a huge impact on women."
But it will be a long time before molecular breast imaging replaces mammography, if ever. Hamilton will now join a handful of other centres testing the new technology to make sure it's safe and lives up to its promise.
The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research gave $450,000 to get that research started within a year.
"Our goal is to work with Health Canada to deploy the technology as fast as possible," says Valliant. "We have the people on the ground ready."
– Metroland Newswire