Turkey-based Medica Medical Center has installed Naviscan's PET scanner which performs positron emission mammography (PEM).
PEM gives information much earlier than magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and mammography and shows the location as well as the metabolic phase of a lesion.
The information obtained is used to determine whether a lesion is malignant and influences the course of treatment by providing an ability to distinguish between benign and malignant lesions.
Recent studies also have showed that PEM has similar sensitivity and higher specificity than breast MRI.
The PET scanner is US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared and CE-certified 3D Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI).
Medica Medical Center Nuclear Medicine Chief Okan Falay said after PET/CT has capability of N and M staging capability on breast cancer, PEM tool is used to define T staging with high sensitivity and specificity.