Cuttack, May 6: Sun Diagnostic Centre, Cuttack, a unit of Sun Hospital Pvt. Ltd. on Saturday introduced the first MRI mammography breast imaging facility in Odisha in a press conference here. This new facility is a significant milestone in the healthcare sector in Odisha as it will make Breast cancer diagnosis more accurate and reliable.
Addressing the media persons, Dr. Dipak Mitra, CMD said that MRI Mammography is highly recommended for breast cancer as it has no risk of radiation exposure and uses magnetic fields to create images. It is generally more reliable for detecting suspicious calcifications and remains the best modality for patients with ferrous metal implants that are unable to go through an MRI.
It is well known that one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women in India is breast cancer. However, early diagnosis of breast cancer may improve cure rates significantly. Therefore, experts recommend a yearly clinical examination combined with x-ray mammographic screening every 2 years for all women above the age of 40 years.
Studies have shown that the sensitivity of x-ray mammography in diagnosing a breast lesion is between 60% and 70%. This indicates that 30% to 40% of times, this modality will fail to pick up a suspicious disease in the breast.
On the other hand, MRI mammography, along with high resolution spectroscopy on 3 Tesla platform is the new modality which can be used to detect breast disease, including cancer more accurately, especially in the earlier stages. This is due to the fact that MRI mammography has better 3D spatial resolution, the ability to detect hidden and multicentric/ multifocal disease, better ability to delineate the true size of breast cancer (often underestimated by X-ray mammography and ultrasound and additional imaging of the both breasts together and the chest wall. Finally, the sensitivity of MRI mammography to detect breast disease is 99% as compared to 60% to 70% by other methods.
A significant advantage of MRI mammography is the absence of harmful x-rays which have the inherent ability to produce cancer by itself. Thus, it can be safely performed in age groups below 40 years without any fear of producing cancer. Also, breast density affects conventional X-ray mammography images drastically. This problem is not there with MRI mammography and images of all type of breasts are obtained with uniform clarity.
MRI guided breast biopsy is also an option available. This helps in taking a tissue sample from the affected areas accurately, so that a histopatholoigical diagnosis can be made. Combined with very early detection of breast lesions, this modality and result in very early detection of breast cancer so that it can be treated resulting in a life saving outcome.
MRI breast spectroscopy done with a special software identifies the chemical nature of a breast mass. This obviously cannot be done with X-ray mammography or ultrasound mammography. The chemical nature of the mass can diagnose breast cancer in almost 100% of cases. Therefore, definitive diagnosis of breast cancer can be done using this modality and, again, this helps in saving a life.
The traditional disadvantage of MRI mammography was the high cost involved. With costs coming down in India, this problem is surmounted.
In summary, MRI mammography now offers a completely safe, accurate and affordable means of diagnosing breast cancer in all age groups.