This way they can do a better job of planning the appropriate treatment whether it is a lumpectomy or mastectomy prior to surgery. Also, about 10 percent of our patients who have breast cancer will have an additional cancer that's really unknown. We want to be able to identify those cancers with an MRI so that women can have both cancers treated at the same time. There are new advances in mammography that have been digital. We're very impressed with the digital unit because the clarity of the film is exquisite.
Nobody really knows the advantage of digital compared to conventional mammography.
It has not been defined at this point. We are also doing research right now at Moffitt Cancer Center comparing digital mammography to traditional mammography. So, how digital mammography will compare to breast MRI is still unknown. In order for early detection, we need to do a lot of biopsies. Someone can debate whether or not these are unnecessary biopsies, however it's important to identify and diagnose the cancer at an early stage.