The details surrounding mammogram screening will be stunning.
Despite the fact that mammograms are essentially the most extensively used breast most cancers screening check and save many lives, the American Most cancers Society reveals that “Mammograms have their limits…Girls with dense breasts usually tend to get false-negative outcomes.” Girls could have most cancers, however their mammograms will fail to find it as a result of dense breast tissue usually hides most cancers.
Based on MyDensityMatters.org, “In case you do have dense breasts, a mammogram will discover LESS THAN 50% of cancers.” About half of girls have dense breasts.
This alarming knowledge impressed the launch of SmartBreast, the primary and solely firm centered on providing options particularly for ladies with dense breasts. The mission of SmartBreast is early analysis of harder-to-detect most cancers in dense breasts, considerably bettering affected person outcomes and thereby saving breasts and lives.
“The excessive failure price of mammography for depicting early-stage most cancers in dense breasts, the elevated danger for most cancers, and the ensuing giant variety of late-stage interval cancers (identified between annual screening mammograms that seem regular) represent ‘the dense breast downside,’ which introduced collectively our world-renowned workforce of medical imaging scientists, breast surgeons, and radiologists devoted to defeating most cancers in dense breasts,” reads smartbreast.com.
Delays in breast most cancers analysis, generally by 4 to 6 years, improve the necessity for radical surgical procedures, together with mastectomies, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiation remedy. Later analysis additionally ends in a a lot decrease life expectancy than if most cancers is detected early.
SmartBreast co-founder and CEO James Hugg, PhD, MBA, is well-positioned to deal with the crucial points offered by the failure of mammography to determine most cancers in dense breasts. As a medical physicist, he has held senior positions at medical imaging firms, together with Basic Electrical Healthcare and Gamma Medica. He led the GE Healthcare workforce that developed the imaging expertise behind Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI).
MBI solves the dense-breast analysis downside with its potential to see via dense tissue. MBI spotlights cancers with a low-dose tracer that concentrates in most cancers cells and, in contrast to mammography, is painless.
Enjoying a pivotal function in Dr. Hugg’s inspiration was his spouse and her expertise with mammograms.
“I all the time give my spouse credit score,” stated Dr. Hugg, who holds 20 patents. “She advised me in regards to the terrible expertise of getting her breasts mashed throughout a mammogram after which being referred to as again for added assessments and biopsies. And these disagreeable assessments nonetheless miss most early-stage cancers in ladies with dense breasts.”
After main the GE Healthcare workforce in creating the expertise that made MBI doable, the chance arose to accumulate and develop their MBI product line. James and his co-founders fashioned SmartBreast, raised $2.4 million in the course of the pandemic, and negotiated a strong take care of GE. After SmartBreast grows the MBI market, GE desires to repurchase the MBI product line.
Dr. Hugg sees nice market potential in Asia, the place 70% of girls have dense breasts. Particularly, India and China symbolize untapped markets for SmartBreast expertise.
However the U.S. represents a fair better alternative.
The potential for SmartBreast’s success within the U.S. accelerated on March 9, 2023, when the FDA formally acknowledged the dense-breast downside with its mandate for supplemental screening of girls with dense breasts. Moreover, the Congressional “Discover It Early Act” would require full cost by insurance coverage firms of the supplemental dense-breast screening value.
“Our timing proper now,” Dr. Hugg stated, “couldn’t be higher.”
Go to smartbreast.com to be taught extra.
