X-ray mammography cannot always distinguish between benign and malignant breast lesions. This leads to unnecessary biopsies, costs, and stress for the patient. Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) provides images of increased glucose metabolism in malignant tumours compared with healthy tissue. After injection of a radioactively-labelled glucose analog, cancerous tumours appear as bright spots on the breast image. / Quantitative analysis of PEM images consists in comparing the amount of activity absorbed in both breasts of a patient. Based on ROC analysis of 15 subjects, an asymmetry of 10% in the number of counts detected from each breast was taken as a sign of cancer. The application of the count asymmetry method seems to results in a 22% improvement of PEM accuracy (from 64% to 86%). It is particularly useful for the detection of big or diffuse tumours. Quantitative data will also provide tools for future applications of PEM technology, such as follow-up of patients after cancer therapy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21507 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Aznar, Marianne. |
| Contributors | Thompson, C. J. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Medical Radiation Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001652765, proquestno: MQ50714, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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