Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science has developed a new diagnostic imaging technique which will help many avoid the pain and risk of biopsies used to diagnose solid malignant tumors, the Jerusalem Post reported.
According to the report, the technique, named as "3TP" (Three Time Point) technique, through using existing magnetic resonance instrument (MRI) scanners and a safe contrast medium injected into the patient, will enable doctors to distinguish between malignant tumors and benign lumps by scanning instead of cutting.
The technique has been recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for detecting breast and prostate cancer, and it is slated for distribution as early as next year, the report said.
The suspected tumor site is scanned by MRI repeatedly over a period of several minutes. The software developed for the method analyzes three of the MRI images, one before and two after the injection (hence the name 3TP), and then creates a colored likeness of the breast or prostate area based on the resulting data, the report said.
A preponderance of red in the picture indicates malignancy, while mainly blue and green are signs of a benign growth, it added.
According to Prof. Hadassa Degani and her research group, the developer of the procedure, malignancies typically contain many small, new blood vessels, and tumor cells are distributed unevenly, with areas of densely packed cells having tighter between-cell spaces than normal.
To get the 3TP image, the image-enhancing contrast agent is injected into the bloodstream, and the flow of the agent into the area being scanned is traced. By making calculations based on comparisons between the images, the software can assign a color to each tiny pixel making up the graphic image.
Solid growths larger than five millimeters were diagnosed correctly nearly 100 percent using 3TP, and for all trials, including patients with DCIS (a non-invasive, non-lump-forming cancer in the milk ducts), the accuracy rate was close to 90 percent, the report said.
According to the report, the technique, named as "3TP" (Three Time Point) technique, through using existing magnetic resonance instrument (MRI) scanners and a safe contrast medium injected into the patient, will enable doctors to distinguish between malignant tumors and benign lumps by scanning instead of cutting.
The technique has been recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for detecting breast and prostate cancer, and it is slated for distribution as early as next year, the report said.
The suspected tumor site is scanned by MRI repeatedly over a period of several minutes. The software developed for the method analyzes three of the MRI images, one before and two after the injection (hence the name 3TP), and then creates a colored likeness of the breast or prostate area based on the resulting data, the report said.
A preponderance of red in the picture indicates malignancy, while mainly blue and green are signs of a benign growth, it added.
According to Prof. Hadassa Degani and her research group, the developer of the procedure, malignancies typically contain many small, new blood vessels, and tumor cells are distributed unevenly, with areas of densely packed cells having tighter between-cell spaces than normal.
To get the 3TP image, the image-enhancing contrast agent is injected into the bloodstream, and the flow of the agent into the area being scanned is traced. By making calculations based on comparisons between the images, the software can assign a color to each tiny pixel making up the graphic image.
Solid growths larger than five millimeters were diagnosed correctly nearly 100 percent using 3TP, and for all trials, including patients with DCIS (a non-invasive, non-lump-forming cancer in the milk ducts), the accuracy rate was close to 90 percent, the report said.