Greenville, NC and San Antonio, TX, Aug. 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mammograms are an essential part of preventive healthcare, and when an initial review reveals a suspicious lesion, additional imaging and/or invasive breast biopsies could be the next step in diagnosis. However, breast biopsy procedures caused by false-positive assessments in the United States cost the healthcare system more than $2 billion per year[i] and cause millions of women unnecessary stress and anxiety.
Carolina Breast Imaging Specialists, PLLC in Greenville, North Carolina intends to change that as the first radiology center in the U.S.A. to adopt the recently available Imagio® Breast Imaging System. Imagio® uses non-invasive opto-acoustic ultrasound (OA/US) technology to provide real-time information about suspicious breast lesions, helping physicians characterize and differentiate masses that may — or may not — require more invasive diagnostic evaluation.
“We are committed to providing the best quality healthcare for the people in our community,” said Dr. Bruce Schroeder, Medical Director and CEO of Carolina Breast Imaging Specialists, PLLC. “Our adoption of innovative technologies like Imagio® helps us deliver the world-class care that our patients deserve, and we are very excited to offer this extraordinary technology.”
Imagio® OA/US technology combines laser optics and grayscale ultrasound to offer fused functional and anatomical breast imaging. The opto-acoustic images provide a unique blood map in and around breast masses, while the ultrasound provides a traditional anatomical image. Through the appearance or absence of two hallmark indicators of cancer — angiogenesis and deoxygenation — the Imagio® OA/US Breast Imaging System is a more effective tool to help radiologists confirm or rule out malignancy compared with traditional diagnostic imaging modalities. And it does this without exposing patients to potentially harmful ionizing radiation (x-rays) or contrast agents.
Carolina Breast Imaging Specialists, PLLC are dedicated to providing patients with state-of-the-art care in a comfortable environment by a team of professionals exclusively dedicated to breast imaging and the early detection of breast cancer. It is the only medical practice in the region where all the physicians are fellowship-trained breast imaging experts, allowing the providers to find the earliest breast cancers with the fewest number of false positive exams (which result in unnecessary extra testing and biopsies).
Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. is a San Antonio, Texas-based medical imaging company committed to developing and commercializing a new modality in cancer diagnosis: opto-acoustic imaging. Approved by the US FDA in January 2021 with additional approval in June 2022 including its state-of-the-art ultrasound technologies, Seno Medical’s Imagio® Breast Imaging System fuses opto-acoustic technology with ultrasound (OA/US) to generate real-time functional and anatomical images of the breast. To learn more about Seno Medical’s OA/US imaging technology and applications, visit www.SenoMedical.com.
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[i] Vlahiotis A, Griffin B, Stavros AT, Margolis J. Analysis of utilization patterns and associated costs of the breast imaging and diagnostic procedures after screening mammography. Clinicoeconomics Outcomes Res 2018;10:157-167.
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