ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 12, 1995 TAG: 9512120075
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GAITHERSBURG, MD.
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE EFFECTIVENESS of the new ultrasound at spotting which growths were benign and which were malignant surprised the doctors who tested it.
A powerful ultrasound can significantly reduce the number of American women who undergo surgery to tell if lumps in their breasts are cancerous or benign, government scientists said Monday.
The scientific panel unanimously urged the Food and Drug Administration to approve the High-Definition Imaging, or HDI, ultrasound as a test to help doctors decide which women need a biopsy and which can skip the surgery.
``This will help women in general who have suspicious lesions,'' said Dr. David Hackney, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital.
Added fellow panelist, Dr. Brian Garra, of Georgetown University: ``It went against the grain of prevailing medical opinion,'' but clearly worked.
The FDA isn't bound by advisory panel decisions but usually follows them.
The manufacturer, Advanced Technology Laboratories, predicts the HDI ultrasound will cut the 700,000 biopsies performed annually in America by 40 percent. Of those, 182,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year, while the rest of the growths surgically examined are benign.
The FDA panel wasn't sure how many biopsies would be prevented, and emphasized that Seattle-based ATL must train doctors to use the ultrasound properly.
A mammogram, or special type of X-ray, is good at spotting lumps in most breasts, but they don't tell if a lump is cancerous or benign.
When doctors get a particularly clear mammogram, they may feel comfortable just telling the woman to get rechecked in a few months. However, most doctors order a biopsy, an outpatient procedure where a surgeon cuts a tiny portion of breast tissue to check for cancerous cells. Doctors want to reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies performed each year. A biopsy costs about $2,500 while ultrasound costs between $75 and $300, ALT said.
Ultrasound sends high frequency sound waves into the body, which reflects back to create images. A weaker ultrasound now is used to tell the difference between a solid tumor and a fluid-filled cyst, which is not dangerous.
ATL's stronger ultrasound goes a step further, showing a clear picture of lumps. If they have, for example, smooth edges and no irregular colors or dark shadows, they are likely benign, explained Dr. Christopher Merritt of Tulane University, who tested the ultrasound.
When tested on 1,021 breast lumps, the ultrasound was 99 percent accurate in diagnosing lumps as benign, ATL said. It missed one cancer - hidden in the shadow of a large cyst.
However, the ultrasound did not get rid of all unnecessary biopsies. It was 59 percent accurate in diagnosing a lump as cancer - the rest of the lumps that it deemed suspicious turned out to be benign.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB