A simple noninvasive blood test matched with state-of-the-art molecular imaging of individual cells could help oncologists understand their patients’ chances of survival, said researchers at the 2014 annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).

Patients with advanced breast cancer that may have spread to their lymph nodes could benefit from a more robust dose of a molecular imaging agent called Tc-99m filtered sulfur colloid when undergoing lymphoscintigraphy, a functional imaging technique that scouts new cancer as it begins to metastasize. Best results also indicate that imaging could be improved by injecting the agent the day prior to surgical resection, according to research unveiled at the 2014 annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).

A simple noninvasive blood test matched with state-of-the-art molecular imaging of individual cells could help oncologists understand their patients’ chances of survival, said researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2014 Annual Meeting (SNMMI).

In the last 30 years, since mammography was introduced, late-stage breast cancer incidence has decreased by 37 percent, a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center finds.

June 16, 2014 — Children with heart disease are exposed to low levels of radiation during X-rays, which do not significantly raise their lifetime cancer risk. However, children who undergo repeated complex imaging tests that deliver higher doses of radiation may have a slightly increased lifetime risk of cancer, according to researchers at Duke Medicine. The findings, published June 9 in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Circulation, represent the largest study of cumulative radiation doses in children with heart disease and associated predictions of lifetime cancer risk.