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:Tanya Rachfal, Advanced Radiology October 30, 2002 ADVANCED
RADIOLOGY OFFERS NEW DIAGNOSTIC OPTION FOR BREAST CANCER |
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-------------------------------------------------- Baltimore, Maryland - Positron Emission Tomography (P.E.T.) has emerged as an important clinical imaging modality for diagnosing and staging many types of cancer, including breast cancer. Advanced Radiology now offers P.E.T. scans at several locations in the greater Baltimore area including Glen Burnie, Pikesville, Westminster and Belair. Breast cancer is the most common non-skin malignancy in women in the United States. Studies suggest that a woman in the U.S. has a one in eight chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. While the exact reasons breast cancer develops may remain unknown, by identifying glucose metabolism within cancer cells, a P.E.T. scan enables patients, with their physicians, to make more informed treatment decisions and may provide more treatment options to women with breast cancer. "P.E.T. will revolutionize the way physicians look for recurrent breast cancer allowing for earlier treatment and better outcomes," said Ethan J. Spiegler, M.D., F.A.C.P., Director of Advanced Radiology's Nuclear Medicine Department. "This modality will also allow physicians to determine whether the chosen treatment option is working." Studies have shown that P.E.T. scans detect and stage breast cancer with high diagnostic accuracy. Since October 1, 2002, Medicare, and most health insurance companies, cover two types of P.E.T. imaging for breast cancer, including staging or re-staging of breast cancer and evaluating response to treatment for locally advanced and metastatic disease. Advanced Radiology has developed considerable expertise in P.E.T. interpretation by establishing the first clinical P.E.T. scanner in Maryland. As a Center of Excellence, Advanced Radiology has performed and interpreted over 3,000 P.E.T. exams and offers a P.E.T. training course to aid physicians in the initial reading of P.E.T. studies. Advanced Radiology is one of the largest and most progressive radiology practices in the country consisting of 80 board certified radiologists encompassing 20 outpatient imaging centers and seven hospitals with locations in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard Counties. This large pool of radiologists offers patients and referring physicians access to diagnostic imaging subspecialists with experience and expertise in such areas as MRI, mammography, ultrasound, CT with 3-Dimensional Imaging, DEXA scanning, P.E.T., nuclear medicine and interventional radiology.
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