FAQs

When breast cancer is found and treated in early stages — before it spreads too far — it is highly curable. If the cancer is discovered and treated early, the five-year relative survival rate is greater than 90 percent.

Women over the age of 40 should receive a mammography screening every year. Women under the age of 40 with either a family history of breast cancer or other concerns about their personal breast health should consult their doctor about when to start screenings.

Some mammograms are difficult to interpret due to dense breast tissue, scarring from previous surgery, scattered calcifications, or implants. Further testing is necessary for an accurate evaluation.

HRT replaces lost estrogen. During menopause, estrogen levels drop causing the dense breast tissue to shrink and leaving primarily fatty tissue behind. For women on HRT, however, breast tissue remains dense and therefore is more difficult to evaluate. This is a concern because HRT begins at an age when women's risk of breast cancer is significantly higher.

A false negative is when a test shows no sign of cancer, but cancer is in fact present. A false positive is an abnormality that looks like cancer on a test, but turns out to be benign. To make up for these limitations, additional testing may be necessary.

Functional imaging, like Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI), captures an image of metabolic activity. Cancer cells have a much higher rate of metabolic activity than the surrounding normal tissue and with BSGI those areas are brighter, indicating disease. Structural and anatomical imaging take pictures of the structures within the breast that are normal or abnormal, like cysts, glands, ducts, tumors, scar tissue, etc. The challenge comes in when several of these structures overlay each other obscuring the structure of cancer on a mammogram.

Sensitivity refers to the ability of an imaging technique to detect the presence of disease. Tests that have a high sensitivity have a low false negative rate. Mammograms, for instance are highly sensitive for finding cancers in patients with normal breast tissue, but its sensitivity is reduced as tissue density increases. Specificity refers to the technique's ability to detect that disease is actually not present. A highly specific test results in fewer false positives. For instance, BSGI is very specific for cancer.

A palpable mass or lesion is a lump you can feel by touch.

For BSGI, after you are intravenously injected with the tracing agent, imaging can begin approximately five minutes later.

In general, four images are taken — two for each breast. Each view takes about five - 10 minutes to image. The procedure lasts from 45 minutes to an hour for all of the images to be completed.

Costs for the BSGI procedure vary depending upon your area of the country, but have been found to range from $300 to $1,000.

Insurance policies and procedures can vary. This procedure is generally covered by Medicare / Medicaid and several private carriers. Please consult with your insurance provider regarding coverage prior to your BSGI study.

Visit our BSGI Center Locator or call Dilon at 1-877-GO DILON for hospitals and health centers nationwide that are using the Dilon 6800^®.

Only moderate pressure is required to help form and stabilize the breast for imaging with BSGI, making it much more comfortable than a mammogram. Also, patients are seated comfortably through the entire procedure. Many patients comment that BSGI is significantly more comfortable than mammography.

This test, in one form or another, has been around for more than 10 years. Over the last three years it has become a routine procedure for many breast medical centers across the country and has been performed on more than 200,000 patients.

The Dilon 6800 has a FDA 510 (k) authorization. It also has UL recognition and the CE Mark for sales in Europe.

For the foreseeable future, mammograms will remain the gold standard in breast cancer screening and will be the first step in breast cancer detection. However, for specific groups of patients BSGI, MRI and ultrasound will continue to serve important roles in breast cancer screening.

The injection used in BSGI (Sestamibi) does not contain iodine, but other allergic reactions can exist. For information on potential allergic reactions and after effects of the imaging agent Sestamibi, please visit http://www.cardiolite.com/index_flash.html.

The radiopharmaceutical used in the BSGI procedure has been used safely for more than 15 years in cardiac stress tests. The majority of the drug leaves your body within hours after administration, and is completely eliminated within 30 hours. For additional information about the pharmaceutical risks of Technetium TC 99m Sestamibi please visit www.cardiolite.com/index_flash.html.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the risks from the radiation dose associated with both mammography and BSGI/MBI procedures are considered to be "minimal."

Small body movements, such as those listed, do not normally impact breast imaging. However, if your breast slips during the imaging process it will be necessary to restart imaging. Therefore you should make every attempt not to move during the imaging process.

Sestimibi, the drug used in BSGI should not be used if you are pregnant, and has not been evaluated for use in children under 18. Please visit www.cardiolite.com/index_flash.html for more information.