Application of Imaging Technologies in Breast Cancer Detection: A Review Article

Abstract

One of the techniques utilised in the management of cancer in all stages is multiple biomedical imaging. Imaging as an important part of cancer clinical protocols can provide a variety of information about morphology, structure, metabolism and functions. Application of imaging technics together with other investigative apparatus including in fluids analysis and vitro tissue would help clinical decision-making. Mixed imaging techniques can provide supplementary information used to improve staging and therapy planning. Imaging aimed to find minimally invasive therapy to make better results and reduce side effects. Probably, the most important factor in reducing mortality of certain cancers is an early diagnosis of cancer via screening based on imaging. The most common cancer in women is breast cancer. It is considered as the second major cause of cancer deaths in females, and therefore it remained as an important medical and socio-economic issue. Medical imaging has always formed part of breast cancer care and has used in all phases of cancer management from detection and staging to therapy monitoring and post-therapeutic follow-up. An essential action to be performed in the preoperative staging of breast cancer based on breast imaging. The general term of breast imaging refers to breast sonography, mammography, and magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) of the breast (magnetic resonance mammography, MRM).
 Further development in technology will lead to increase imaging speed to meet physiological processes requirements. One of the issues in the diagnosis of breast cancer is sensitivity limitation. To overcome this limitation, complementary imaging examinations are utilised that traditionally includes screening ultrasound, and combined mammography and ultrasound. Development in targeted imaging and therapeutic agents calls for close cooperation among academic environment and industries such as biotechnological, IT and pharmaceutical industries.

The P.I.N.K. Study Approach for Supporting Personalized Risk Assessment and Early Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

“…Medical imaging has many advantages including real time monitoring, accessibility without tissue destruction, minimal or no invasiveness and can work over wide ranges of time and size scales involved in biological and pathological processes [ 29 ]. Concerning the wide range of usage along the cancer disease process including diagnosis, staging, therapy planning, monitoring and surveillance, imaging is considered as an essential component of clinical cancer protocols [ 30 ]. Although mammography is the current standard breast screening technique, it is less effective for subjects under 40 years old and dense breasts, partly less sensitive to small tumours and providing limited indication of eventual disease outcome [ 31 ].…”

Breast cancer screening strategy: what can we learn?

“…BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the major genetically related breast cancer genes, and those who carry the BRCA mutation (BRCAm) have a significantly increased risk of developing breast cancer [17]. There are two types of BRCAm: 1) germline mutation (gBRCAm), which is a mutation in germ cells derived from sperm or oocytes, resulting in mutations in all cells of the body that can be passed on to offspring; 2) somatic mutation (sBRCAm), which is a mutation in the BRCA gene that occurs in tumor cells and is not heritable.…”

The utility of radiolabeled PSMA ligands for tumor imaging

“…Medical imaging is one of the most important tools used in cancer detection. There are different modalities for diagnosing and screening breast cancer including mammography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine imaging (Safarpour Lima et al, 2019).…”