MUNSTER – Community Hospital is the first in Indiana to offer advanced Positron Emission Mammography (PEM). The new equipment adds 3D imaging capabilities to the comprehensive breast cancer services available through the Women’s Diagnostic Center.
“We are excited to introduce this revolutionary technology to better care for our patients,” said Dr. Mary Nicholson, dedicated breast radiologist at Community Hospital and regional director of breast imaging services for Community Healthcare System. “Identifying new or recurrent breast cancer at the earliest stage possible gives each patient the best chance of a superior outcome.”
A high-resolution Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner, called Naviscan is used to perform PEM. PEM scanners are high-resolution breast PET systems that show the location as well as the metabolic phase of a breast mass or growth. The metabolic view allows the physician to make the optimal cancer care decision, for masses as small at 1.6 mm, the size of a grain of rice, by providing an unprecedented ability to distinguish between benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) masses.
Except for skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. The chance of developing invasive breast cancer at some time in a woman’s life is a little less than one in eight, or 12 percent.
