BREAST CANCER SCREENING WITH 3D MAMMOGRAPHY

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What Every Woman Should Know About Breast MRI by Ryan Polselli, M.D.

Breast MRI is a specialized form of MRI specifically designed to detect breast cancer. Although there is no radiation and it does not require the firm type of compression as with mammography, it does require intravenous contrast and you must lie on your stomach in an MRI scanner for approximately 20 minutes.

Breast MRI can detect cancer that may not necessarily be seen with mammography, particularly if you have dense breast tissue. In general, the denser the breast tissue, the more difficult it is to detect cancer with mammogrpahy. Studies have repeatedly proven that women with dense breast tissue may benefit from adding breast MRI into their breast cancer screening routine, a fact of which many patients are unaware.As a result, approximately half of all states have enacted legislation (Florida has introduced a bill) requiring notification of this fact to patients with dense breast tissue. Some states now require insurance companies to manditorily cover the cost of breast cancer screening with breast MRI. 

All mammograms currenty classify the density of breast tissue and if your report uses the words “heterogenously dense” or “extremely dense” you may want to discuss the value of breast MRI with your doctor.Studies have also proven that annual screening with breast MRI can aid in the early detection of breast cancer in patients that have a high lifetime risk for developing breast cancer. 

The American Cancer Society now recommends yearly breast MRI, in addition to annual screening mammography, for anyone that is considered to have greater than 20% lifetime risk for developing breast cancer.

While there are many factors that may put you at high risk of developing breast cancer, some of the most important factors to consider are whether there is a history of any first degree relatives in your family that have had breast cancer, a personal history of breast cancer or abnormal cells from biopsies, if you are a carrier of certain genes linked to breast cancer, if you have never had children or if your first child was after the age of 30, radiation therapy to the chest, estrogen exposure and hormone replacement therapy, and your ethnic background (caucasian women are at slightly higher risk than other ethnicities). More...

“There is certainly a price to pay and the actual price tag is not necessarily the most expensive part,” says Dr. Ryan Polselli, a Diagnostic Radiologist. “Medical school can take an emotional toll on your spirit and relationships.” He recalls some of his peers getting divorced or depressed. One of his classmate’s dealt with the guilt of not being able to spend as much time with her sick mother. These types of sacrifices are important to consider up front...(continued)

Breast Imaging Company Rings in the New Year with Bold Predictions

Startup breast imaging company, MammoLink℠, is improving breast cancer screening by making mammograms more accessible for patients in the United States.

Tampa, January 20th, 2017. MammoLink℠, a startup breast imaging company, believes it has found a solution to a growing problem in the current breast cancer screening system in the United States.

The company, founded by breast imaging radiologist Dr. Ryan Polselli, hopes to place mammography machines and radiological expertise directly in the hands of primary care and OB-gyn offices.

According to company founder Ryan Polselli, the current process by which a patient obtains a mammogram is not only considered inefficient, but is source of frustration for patients and physicians, ultimately discouraging regular mammographic screening.

He states, “We have made tremendous strides in advancing imaging technology and the ability to detect cancer early, but the actual process by which a patient must obtain a mammogram hasn’t changed in over 50 years.”

According to Polselli, the concept for MammoLink℠ began when he was reading for an outpatient imaging center. He noticed that patients often skipped annual mammograms, sometimes several years in a row. At that time, he estimated that up to half of the 20,000 or so mammograms he read each year had inconsistent screening histories. Many of these patients had cancers at an advanced stage that should have been caught years earlier.

Polselli explains that this issue does not stem from lack of awareness. In the United States, we raise 6 billion dollars a year in the name of breast cancer. Part of the problem is accessibility. While we have traditionally relied on hospitals and radiology groups to control essentially all mammogram machines and programs, MammoLink℠ hopes to makes screenings more available by placing machines in the direct paths of patients. More...

This looks interesting.  Wonder if this will generate more mammograms, more abnormal mammograms and more breast biopsies with potential to detect disease at an earlier stage. Does sound like a bold prediction putting the technology at point of care in primary care and ob-gyn offices. 

As confident as you are going into a situation, you must always expect the unexpected, according to Dr. Ryan Polselli, a Diagnostic Radiologist. He recalls a time early on in his residency when he was asked to obtain a medical history and physical exam for a new admission. “I had done this dozens of times and felt confident I could get to the bottom of any situation within 20 minutes,” Dr. Polselli says.

When he entered the room, the patient’s tongue was so swollen that he was only able to utter some basic sounds and poorly formed words. After a few failed attempts at speaking back and forth, Dr. Polselli opted to grab a pen and paper and communicated that way.

“No lip reading, translator, phone app, or communications training could have prepared me for that situation,” Dr. Polselli says.