Deseret News, Friday, November 17, 2000
Layton firm's thermal imaging may help detect breast cancer
Computer, camera could limit need for some biopsies
By Lois M. Collins
Deseret News staff writer
A Utah company has developed technology that may allow doctors and technicians to look at tissue temperature to see if a breast abnormality is malignant or benign, possibly eliminating the need for some surgical biopsies.
In thermal imaging, a picture of the breast is taken with a thermal camera in a noninvasive procedure. The images are then fed into a computer for analysis.
Photo Courtesy Of CTI Inc.
Computerized Thermal Imaging, based in Layton, has just completed the patient-data-collection segment of its clinical trial. If the data analysis shows the technology does effectively help screen for breast cancer, CTI plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for approval to market it.
The machine is designed to be used along with mammography, according to CTI president David Packer. Data was collected from 1,500 to 2,000 patients at hospitals in Washington, D.C., Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts and California. For its part, CTI receives copies of the mammograms, family history and other information that a doctor or radiologist typically uses to determine whether a breast abnormality might be cancer.
CTI also examines thermal imaging scans, runs them through a sophisticated proprietary computer program and decides whether the tissue is malignant or benign. Its findings are being compared to results of the surgical breast biopsies that were performed as part of standard diagnosis.
Routine self-examination and mammography are the best tools to detect changes in the breast that could signal cancer. But only a surgical biopsy can determine whether a breast mass is malignant. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, about 80 percent of the time, the biopsy shows the tissue is benign.
Last year, more than 1 million Americans had surgical biopsies. Eliminating the need for some of them could save billions of health-care dollars.
Thermal imaging relies on detecting heat and cold in tissue to form a picture. And it's not a new concept. Thermography was tested extensively in the 1970s and '80s, Packer said, but the results at that time were "nonspecific." Though the Utah company uses the same principle, the technology has improved with use of higher-resolution thermal cameras and a computer that uses a sophisticated algorithm to analyze the data.
The machine, Packer said, "can see changes so subtle that you wouldn't see it with a naked eye. It's really the next generation beyond thermography."
Thermal image of malignant breast abnormality
A picture of the breast is taken with a thermal camera in a noninvasive procedure. The only thing that touches the tissue is cool air. There's no radiation exposure, breast compression or electrical currents. The images are fed into a computer for analysis.
A mammogram uses X-rays to look for abnormalities in a breast's structure. Computerized thermal imaging is based on physiology and function, studying heat patterns. It's believed that extra blood vessels feed a site where cancer exists and other things are going on, raising the temperature. The machine is designed with mirrors that offer the thermal camera a full 360-degree view of the breast. The image in the "suspect" breast is compared to the healthy breast as well, to help determine possibility of malignancy.
If the technology is proven effective and receives FDA approval, it could eliminate a significant number of surgical biopsies, Packer said.
CTI hopes to have the results of its analysis to the FDA by January. The pre-market approval application has been submitted in "modules," and three of the five have already won FDA acceptance.
The company also hopes to test the technology on carpal tunnel syndrome and other conditions in the future. Currently, the machine is available only for clinical research and is not being sold.
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