Contact: Natalie Gutierrez
Phone: (210) 567-6814
E-mail: gutierrezn@uthscsa.edu

New MRI biopsy system eliminates surgery and makes detecting breast cancer early easier

The Mammotome® MR Biopsy System allows physicians to use MRI to target suspicious lesions in the breast.
Printer Friendly Format

You’ve heard of image-guided missiles and their accuracy in combat. Now health care providers have their own image-guided weapon in the war against a deadly enemy ¬– breast cancer. Physicians at the Health Science Center are the first in the city to offer this new method of detecting breast cancer early.

The Mammotome® MR Biopsy System allows physicians to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to target suspicious lesions in the breast with precise accuracy. After a lesion is identified, a long needle-like device is inserted, which then cuts and vacuums the suspicious tissue to be tested. The procedure is minimally invasive, leaves no scar tissue behind and is done on an outpatient basis.

“Previously, if MRI detected a lesion in a patient’s breast that could not be visualized by ultrasound or mammography, we would have to send the patient to have it surgically removed in order to biopsy it,” said Pamela Otto, M.D., director of breast imaging and intervention and director of radiology at the Health Science Center. “But with our new system, the invasive surgical procedure is not necessary.”

The Mammotome MR Biopsy System eliminates the need for patients to be anesthetized; eliminates the risk of distorting breast tissue, which makes subsequent mammograms difficult to read; and minimizes pain and recovery time for the patient.

Instead of having to take a golf-ball-size piece of tissue from the breast as was common in the surgical procedure, the precision of the new system allows physicians to procure a piece as small as a pencil lead. After the tissue is removed, the device inserts a tiny clip into the breast (about the size of a grain of rice) so that when the patient returns for subsequent biopsies, physicians will be able to easily see the exact location where suspicious tissue was previously removed.

“This is a win-win situation for both physician and patient,” Dr. Otto said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women (not counting some kinds of skin cancer). The disease strikes regardless of race or ethnicity, and is the most common cause of death from cancer among Hispanic women.

“Many women have a family history of breast cancer, so genetics is a factor in their cases,” Dr. Otto said. “Early detection is key. We can now offer these very-high-risk patients an effective screening tool with MRI and MRI-guided biopsies as necessary. That means peace of mind, and for some it could mean the difference between life and death.”

The Mammotome MR Biopsy System was launched in May 2006 by Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company. Dr. Otto received a $17,500 grant from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to help fund the purchase of this equipment.