Additional Research Published In Radiology Demonstrates Application Of Ground-Breaking Breast Cancer Diagnostic Technology

Seno Medical's opto-acoustic technology could differentiate between breast cancer types

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- An article recently published in Radiology highlights the groundbreaking use of a new imaging technology introduced by Seno Medical Instruments, Inc.® (Seno Medical) to diagnose breast cancer. The technology may offer physicians a new, non-invasive tool to not only better differentiate between benign and malignant breast cancers, but may also help differentiate between breast cancer molecular subtypes.

The analysis of 652 malignant masses concluded that Seno Medical's opto-acoustic combined with ultrasound (OA/US) technology has the potential to depict characteristics that differentiate luminal cancers from those classified as triple negatives and HER2+.

"The clinical implications of accurately identifying molecular subtypes of cancer non invasively with imaging could be very significant for patients," said Basak E. Dogan, MD, Director of Breast Imaging Research at UT Southwestern Medical Center. "Molecular subtypes help determine the treatment of more than two million women diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide each year."

Biopsy specimens don't always represent the tumor in its entirety and are therefore subject to sampling selection errors. Imaging could allow a better evaluation of the whole tumor and further improve pre- and post-surgical treatment strategies.

Researchers observed 2,055 breast masses in 1,972 women who underwent pre-biopsy OA/US examination using Seno Medical's Imagio® Breast Imaging System. Of those, 652 masses in 629 women showed invasive cancer at final pathology.

Physicians most commonly use the grayscale ultrasound modality to diagnose cancer, but ultrasound alone has limited ability to determine prognosis. By pointing to morphological and functional features like internal blood vessels, blush, and hemoglobin, OA/US significantly contributed to differentiating between breast cancer subtypes and identifying the cancers that have the highest likelihood for aggressive growth and metastasis.

"Although this is an emerging technology, these results show that OA/US technology could help deliver more timely, actionable cancer diagnoses for millions of women," said Gisela Menezes, MD, PhD, medical director at Seno Medical. "When time is of the essence, this technology could give physicians and their patients the information they need to develop the right treatment plan."

Seno Medical Instruments, Inc.® is a San Antonio, Texas-based medical imaging company committed to the development and commercialization of a new modality in cancer diagnosis: opto-acoustic imaging. 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. Through the appearance or absence of two hallmark indicators of cancer – angiogenesis and deoxygenation – the opto-acoustic images provide a unique blood map in and around breast masses while the interleved and coregistered ultrasound provides a traditional anatomic image.

Contact: Bryan Fisher (202) 868-4825; bfisher@messagepartnerspr.com