GE Installs First SenoBright Scanner in the U.S.

With the potential to provide adjunctive therapies and on-site reading in a single appointment, the new SenoBright breast imaging technology from GE could be a game-changer, the company says. Its first installation is now complete, at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Beverly Hills, CA. Based on contrast-enhanced spectromammography—a technique whereby two images are captured within microseconds of each other, suppressing background noise and improving contrast—unusual bloodflow patterns in areas of suspicion “are lit up like a lightbulb,” says Charlene Grabowski, General Manager of X-Ray & Women’s Healthcare for GE Healthcare, Americas. “If what you’re looking for is abnormal blood flow in that breast, we can get the doctor a yes/no answer at that point in time, which increases diagnostic confidence,” Grabowski tells Imagingbiz. If a normal diagnostic mammogram raises questions, and adjunctive therapies are required, the SenoBright technology allows for them to be performed immediately without delay, Grabowski says. “There’s a big psychological component here,” she says. “If we can provide this tool, there’s an answer right there and I can get that yes/no answer sooner.” Both the GE SenoEssential and SenoDS systems can be upgraded to include SenoBright technology as well, which GE believes will help maximize cost opportunity of the system as well. In a video released with the announcement surrounding the installation, breast surgeon Kristi Funk, Pink Lotus president, said that SenoBright helps her practice handle an inconclusive mammogram “conclusively and in-house.” “The same day we stress them out, we can go, ‘You know what? Let’s add this contrast, repeat the mammogram, and I can let you go home ten minutes from now with answers and a plan’,” Funk said. “I truly believe we’ll save more lives.”