A newly reported clinical reports that Seno Medical’s Imagio™ breast imaging system achieved significant differentiation among prognostic subtypes of breast cancer (PSBC). These prognostic subtypes provide important information about the genes that each patient’s cancer expresses.
Background
Specialist in opto-acoustic (OA/US) imaging for breast cancer diagnosis, Seno Medical Instruments, Inc., says it is committed to the development and commercialization of a new modality in cancer diagnosis. Its so-called opto-acoustic imaging fuses opto-acoustic technology with ultrasound (OA/US) to generate fused real-time functional and anatomical images of the breast. Through the appearance or absence of two hallmark indicators of cancer – angiogenesis and deoxygenation – Seno Medical believes that the OA/US breast imaging system will be a more effective tool to help radiologists confirm or rule out malignancy than current diagnostic imaging modalities – without exposing patients to potentially harmful ionizing radiation (x-rays) or contrast agents.
New study data were presented during a poster presentation at last week’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The prospective, multi-center study was conducted at 16 centers in the United States. A total of 1,808 breast masses in 1,739 subjects assessed as BI-RADS (Breast Imaging and Reporting Data System, or BR) category 3, 4 or 5 were imaged with OA/US, resulting in the identification of 678 malignant lesions. Eight blinded readers scored these 678 lesions based on three internal features of the tumor and two external features of the tumor boundary and surrounding tissue. An experienced central breast pathologist who was blinded to the OA/US assessment confirmed the pathologic diagnoses. Biopsy specimens were obtained and assessed for the expression of four genes that comprise the PSBC.
The study concluded that functional imaging allowed more accurate diagnosis of breast cancer and correlated with existing prognostic breast cancer diagnostics.
Investigator comments
“Confirming a diagnosis of breast cancer is just the first step in understanding the pathology of a patient’s tumor,” said study presenter Stephen Grobmyer, M.D., Director, Breast Surgical Oncology, Cleveland Clinic. “Determining a patient’s prognostic subtype of breast cancer is essential for understanding how tumors will respond to specific therapies and selecting a treatment regimen that offers the patient the best chance of a positive outcome. The findings that OA/US may differentiate among several breast cancer subtypes suggest that this novel imaging methodology could potentially provide a non-invasive alternative to biopsy without sacrificing information about the molecular pathology of the tumor. This could be an important advance for women with breast cancer.”
Company comments
“The results of this study underscore the clinical benefits that can be achieved with Imagio’s functional imaging technology,” said Tom Umbel, CEO of Seno Medical Instruments. “Unlike anatomical imaging techniques, such as mammography or conventional ultrasound, functional imaging provides important information about the growth and location of blood vessels in and around breast masses. These findings show that not only does this functional imaging data allow for more accurate diagnosis of breast cancer, it also correlates with existing prognostic breast cancer subtypes. This data may suggest that OA/US has the potential to provide physicians with a powerful tool for gaining insight into the molecular pathology of each patient’s tumor without the need for invasive biopsy procedures. Seno Medical is committed to improving the care and outcomes of women with breast cancer through improved non-invasive diagnostic approaches.”
Source: PR Newswire
published: December 11, 2017 in: Clinical Studies/Trials, Congresses and Meetings, Imaging, Oncology