Advanced breast imaging technology comes to Methodist Sugar Land

The Breast Center at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital recently announced the availability of low-dose molecular breast imaging at its campus.

The service is a secondary diagnostic tool for women with suspicious findings or difficult-to-interpret mammograms.

The diagnostic tool at the Breast Center is the first of its kind in the Greater Houston area, and the LumaGEM Low Dose MBI is the first FDA-approved digital imaging system that uses the new technology.

Forty percent of women who receive mammograms have dense tissue, and these patients are five times more likely to develop breast cancer. Regular mammograms are not as effective at detecting cancer in dense breasts, and the new technology creates a clearer image with a radiation level equivalent to digital screening mammography.

"We are excited to offer this new technology and to be the first in the area to do so," Breast Center Medical Director Dr. Stephen Phillips said, according to a press release. "Having played a key role in the clinical research of MBI, I am confident it will contribute to the general health and well-being of women."

Phillips says that mammography continues as the gold standard for detection, but MBI gives this patient population an even stronger diagnostic tool.

The Breast Center provides diagnostic services, including breast MRI, diagnostic ultrasound, digital mammography, ductograms, fine needle aspirations, molecular breast imaging, MRI-guided biopsy, stereotactic biopsy and ultrasound biopsy.

The Methodist Sugar Land Hospital Breast Center is at 16655 Southwest Freeway, Sugar Land.

For more information, call 281-242-7465 or visit www.methodisthealth.com.