BREAST CANCER

PET Scan Can Find Breast Cancer Early

The earlier that your breast cancer is found, the better the chances for your successful treatment.

Early and accurate diagnosis remains a challenge with current practices such as physical examination, mammography and/or ultrasound, and fine needle aspiration. However, the introduction of PET Scan technology is giving Canadians another diagnostic imaging option to find breast cancer early .

CareImaging PET Scan Clinic is committed to using the power of PET scan technology to find breast cancer early and therefore improve breast cancer treatment results and save Canadian lives.

How a PET Scan can make a difference with Breast Cancer:

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How does a PET Scan compare to Mammography?

• Mammography has a 44% accuracy in detecting breast cancer. (1)
• PET has a 94% accuracy in detecting breast cancer. (1)

(1) Source: Clinical Positron Imaging Journal, the official Journal of the Academy of Molecular Imaging, Vol 3, Number 5, Sept-Oct 2000.

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Early Detection of Breast Cancer is possible with PET Scan

If a lump is found in the breast and it is questionable whether or not it is malignant, a PET Scan can help.

Mammograms are used most commonly to X-ray the breast. During a mammogram, the breast is pressed between two plates for a few seconds while pictures are taken. Although this may cause some discomfort, it is necessary to get a good picture. Very low levels of radiation are used.

The current standard of care relies on physical examination, mammography and/or ultrasound, and fine needle aspiration to diagnose a breast cancer. A PET scan can show whether or not a lump in the breast is benign or malignant.

For 70% of all women with suspicious mammograms, a PET scan could eliminate the need for a painful breast biopsy to arrive at a final diagnosis. Specifically, patients with breast implants, dense breasts, and others may benefit from having a PET scan to help look for a lump in the breast.

PET scans, available at CareImaging PET Scan Clinic in Ontario, are an advanced diagnostic imaging test that helps doctors learn more about breast cancer -- a PET scan may even prevent an unnecessary biopsy in some patients.

Breast Cancer Treatment

Before you have treatment for breast cancer, your doctor must determine if or how much the breast cancer has spread. This is called staging the cancer.

Treatment options, including whether surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy is the best option, as well as the outlook for your recovery depends on the stage of the cancer. If breast cancer is found and treated before it has spread to lymph nodes or other organs, the five-year survival rate is extremely high - about 98 percent. Early diagnosis and treatment is critical in conquering breast cancer.

A PET Scan can help you find breast cancer early and get the treatment you need.

Breast Cancer Staging

A PET scan is the most valuable diagnostic imaging test that you can have when doctors are staging or re-staging breast cancer because it is more accurate than any other test in finding local or distant disease. Although PET cannot see microscopic disease, it can detect clusters of tumour cells that have taken hold in other tissues or organs in the body as the whole body is scanned.

Breast Cancer Follow Up

After you have breast cancer treatment, it is important to know if any active cancer cells remain in the body. In the past, the amount and type of chemotherapy your physician used, as well as the area treated by the radiation beams in radiation therapy, was prescribed according to standard rules. A PET scan allows your physician to determine the specific type and amount of therapy to be directed specifically to you, the patient, and to determine the location and extent of your type of breast cancer.

You should have a mammogram of the remaining breast and the breast treated with lumpectomy every year. If anything suggests that the cancer might have come back either in your breast or elsewhere, the doctor will want to do more tests. Treatment could involve surgery, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, or chemotherapy.

During this time, a PET scan can be used to image breast tumour response to therapy and to detect recurrence in successfully treated lesions. After surgery and other treatments, PET is an extremely important tool your physician can use to monitor your body for the possible return of cancer cells.

After your treatment, the tumour masses may still be present and they may show up on CT scans. However, if the cancer cells have been killed by the treatment, they will not absorb any of the radioactive glucose given in the PET scan. Thus, a PET scan will reveal the cells are no longer alive.

Conversely, if the cancer cells have come back either in lymph nodes, scar tissue from surgery, or another lesion, PET can see the accumulation of the radioactive glucose much sooner than a CT scan, and your physician can restart treatment much sooner, improving your chance of beating this disease.

Call CareImaging today at 905-712-9500 or email us at info@careimaging.com for more information on the benefits of a PET scan or to schedule a PET scan.

Breast Cancer Screening

Breast Cancer Screening is the most important way to find breast cancer early. To do this, the Canadian Cancer Society recommends that a woman have the following exams:

• Mammogram yearly (for women 40 and over)
• Clinical breast exam (CBE) yearly (for women 40 and over; every 3 years prior to this)
• Breast self-examination (BSE) every month (for women over 20)

These screening criteria are set up because the most common sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A lump that is painless, hard, and has irregular edges is more likely to be cancer. It's important to have anything unusual checked by your doctor. Other signs of breast cancer include the following:

• A swelling of part of the breast
• Skin irritation or dimpling
• Nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
• Redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin
• A nipple discharge other than breast milk
• A lump in the underarm area

If breast cancer is found early, prompt treatment could save your life. Call your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.

Breast Cancer Statistics

One in 9 women will develop breast cancer over their lifetime. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women other than skin cancer. This year 20,500 women will be diagnosed and more than 5,400 will die. It is the second leading cause of cancer death among women.

More Resources on Breast Cancer:

Canadian Cancer Society
Breast Cancer Action
Breast Cancer Society of Canada
Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
Canadian Breast Cancer Network
Breast Cancer Support Services
Cancer Care Ontario
Canadian Women's Health Network