Breast Imaging Emerging Technologies

Question 1

What is the technique whereby 11-15 low-dose tomography images are taken using one or two compressions of the breast?

Answer 1

Digital Tomosynthesis

Question 2

What ultrasound technology identifies cancer by the relative hard properties of cancerous tissue?

Answer 2

Elastography

Question 3

What technology identifies the chemical choline, present in cancerous tissue?

Answer 3

Magnetic Imaging Spectroscopy

Question 4

Name three different nuclear imaging technologies.

Answer 4

Nuclear imaging or molecular imaging can include Positron Emission tomography/mammography, Breast Specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI), scintigraphy or scintimammography, lymphoscintigraphy or sentinel node mapping.

Question 5

Give three general terms used to describe the radioactive substance used in nuclear medicine studies?

Answer 5

Radiopharmaceutical, radioactive tracers, radionuclide, radioisotopes,

Question 6

What technology is based on the principle that most cancerous tissue uses a vast amount of glucose.

Answer 6

Positron Emission Tomography or Positron Emission Mammography

Question 7

Name the radioactive substance used during a scintimammagraphy scan.

Answer 7

Technetium Tc99m sestamibi.

Question 8

What major factor differentiates the scintimammography scan from the BSGI?

Answer 8

The size of the gamma camera used and the position of the patient during seated versus lying during the study.

Question 9

What syndrome is related to the repeated scanning motion used by ultrasound technologist?

Answer 9

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Question 10

In addition to the radiopharmaceutical, what other substance is often injected when trying to determine if cancer has left the breast?

Answer 10

A blue dye-isosulfan blue vital dye

Question 11

What term is used to describe the process of forming new blood vessels?

Answer 11

Angiogenesis

Question 12

Which technique uses infrared light to penetrate breast tissue?

Answer 12

Optical imaging

Question 13

What modality uses x-rays to image the breast without compression, giving an average dose of 9.9 mGy?

Answer 13

Cone-beam CT imaging

Question 14

Give three limitations of Computerized Tomographic Laser Mammography-CTLM.

Answer 14

Cannot detect calcification/has a high false positive rate/difficult to image small breast.

Question 15

What technique employs a low-level electric current to map the breast?

Answer 15

Cone-beam CT imaging

Question 16

What nuclear imaging modality sees exercise as a contraindication?

Answer 16

Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy, Transact or T-scan