Cooper University Health Care First in the Region to Offer Innovative Imaging System to Detect Breast Cancer

For a woman facing even the slightest possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis, the answers can’t come soon enough. With GE Healthcare’s new SenoBright Contrast Enhanced Spectral Mammography (CESM) technology, physicians at Cooper Cancer Institute (CCI) have the potential to reach definitive decisions sooner—cutting the critical patient wait time from detection to diagnosis. CCI is the only hospital in the region and among the first of ten sites in the U.S. to offer this innovative imaging technology to aid in breast cancer diagnosis.

Performed as an adjunct to an inconclusive or ambiguous mammogram screening or ultrasound, SenoBright highlights areas of unusual blood flow patterns to help identify the presence of cancer. The SenoBright exam is a simple, quick, five minute procedure that’s much like a regular mammography exam, but with the injection of a small amount of an non-ionic contrast agent prior to the exam. Only one injection is required for a physician to get a complete set of X-ray images.

“This is a tremendous step forward in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and Cooper is thrilled to be one of the first hospitals in the region to offer this remarkable technology,” said Kristin L. Brill, MD, Program Director of The Janet Knowles Breast Cancer Center at Cooper Cancer Institute and Director of the Section of Breast Surgery. “The SenoBright will increase patient satisfaction by relieving the burden of uncertainty through early diagnosis and as a result, will improve overall quality of care, productivity and patient access.”

In the past, inconclusive mammograms, due to a range of different factors, required physicians to conduct further testing that could include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning, ultrasounds, and biopsies—all of which could delay the diagnostic process by days or even weeks. Compared to mammography alone, clinical studies have shown that SenoBright significantly improves the accuracy of the exam and in some cases has been able to locate additional cancers. SenoBright can be used in high-risk patients with dense breasts, for preoperative planning of a known breast cancer, to identify a suspicious finding during a clinical breast exam that doesn’t show up in a mammogram or ultrasound, or when a patient is unable to undergo an MRI scan. The use of intravenous contrast also allows the possibility for physicians to obtain information in the mammogram that was previously only obtained from an MRI.

“The clarity of results is evident with the SenoBright,” said Lydia Liao, MD, Director of Cooper Breast Imaging Center. “We can almost immediately eliminate patients who don’t require further testing and help to ensure that those patients who need to go into cancer treatment do so—and do so quickly.”

For more information about SenoBright technology  visit the Cooper’s Breast Imaging Program.

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