Hamilton was selected by GE Healthcare to be the first site in the world to receive new prototype technologies for use in a molecular breast imaging research program. Hamilton researchers will design and lead clinical trials to evaluate new technologies which use molecular imaging probes that target breast cancer. This cutting-edge strategy has the potential to find very small tumours, leading to early intervention. Trials will be geared towards high-risk women who are not currently well served by mammography.
GE Healthcare chose Hamilton because of the combined strengths of the collaborative partnership among the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization, and the Oncology and Nuclear Medicine programs at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.
Quick Facts:
- Each year in Ontario, 8,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer.
- According to the Mayo Clinic, when localized breast cancer is caught at an early stage, the survival rate is 98 per cent.
One promising technique is molecular breast imaging, an experimental approach to cancer detection that has the potential to identify very small tumours and also to reduce the number of false positive results [reference]. It is geared toward high-risk women with dense breasts, who are not well served by mammography.
The GE technologies are expected to be located at Hamilton’s Henderson General Hospital with the research and development work carried out by McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. Through careful evaluation in clinical trials, researchers will determine the full potential of the molecular breast imaging strategy.
All clinical studies will be submitted to Health Canada and the hospital’s research ethics board for review. Technologies will be delivered and studies will start only after approvals from both Health Canada and the hospital’s Ethics Board have been received. For more information, visit: www.imagingprobes.ca/breast-imaging
Our club secretary and chair of PR, Brooke Gordon, is the Commercialization Officer at the Centre for Probe Development & Commercialization, Hamilton, ON. Her role is in business development where she seeks to identify and capitalize on new markets and commercialization opportunities in the field of Molecular Imaging.