"In early December 2002, I awoke one morning and noticed blood on my pajamas. It had come from my left nipple. I was surprised and scared and all the plans my husband and I had for the holidays immediately came to a screeching halt. I didn’t understand. A recent mammogram had come back normal."

Although I had fibrocystic (FCD) disease and had recently stopped taking hormone therapy to reduce my risk of heart disease and cancer, I couldn’t face the possibility of breast cancer. Friends and family members suggested I take a new kind of test–Breast Enhanced Scintigraphy (BEST) to help determine what the cause of the blood was–cancer or something else. Currently, pending a US patent, BEST had been shown to distinguish between normal breasts, FCD, abnormal regions of the breast referred to as cellular atypia or hyperplasia and breast cancer itself. BEST uses nuclear imaging to track blood flow and mitochondria (which provide energy for cells) to find cancer. This test is unlike conventional tests like mammograms, MRI’s and ultrasound, which only use the anatomy of the cancer to find it. I went to The Fleming Heart & Health Institute, in Omaha, Nebraska, which operates in conjunction with The Camelot Foundation, a non-profit organization (the test was also available at The Block Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois). In 1995, Dr. Fleming, a nuclear cardiologist trained in studying the breasts using small amounts of radioactive substances called isotopes, had developed a method to more accurately detect heart disease using high-dose dipyridamole (a substance that causes blood vessels to relax and carry more blood, so that problems can be easily found through imaging). Since cancers are rich in blood supply, he surmised using this approach could improve the delivery of the isotope to find a problem.

A painless procedure

Dr. Fleming had assured me that the test was painless, and would neither require x-rays or compressing the breast. The next week, I took the 45-minute test (which was painless). I put on a gown and had a catheter placed in a vein in my arm. For four minutes dipyridamole slowly relaxed my blood vessels, increasing the ability to deliver the isotope to my breasts. Fifteen minutes later pictures were taken while I laid on my back on top of a six-inch foam cushion.

After five minutes, I turned over onto my stomach, allowing my breasts to poke through two openings in the foam cushion. More pictures were taken, five minutes on one side, then five minutes on the other side. After it was over, I got dressed and waited to speak to Dr. Fleming.

I met Julie in the waiting room. Although her mammogram had not revealed anything suspicious, Julie had noticed a lump in her breast.

Her options included repeating the mammogram in six months, performing a biopsy, or undergo BEST imaging to determine if there was physiological evidence of what the lump was. She chose BEST imaging. The photos that Dr. Fleming showed to me and my husband revealed either hyperplasia or an early cancer (DCIS), and only a sample of the tissue would tell what the problem was. Although I imagined scars on my breast and possible mastectomy, Dr. Fleming proposed a different approach.

A new solution

Dr Fleming arranged for me to see a colleague of his, Dr. William C. Dooley at the University of Oklahoma. The two doctors had presented information two years earlier at a medical conference in Toronto on the use of BEST and Ductoscopy (looking into the mammary ducts with a lighted tube, with the help of BEST imaging) to more accurately detect breast cancer, and find early changes in the breast tissue. Dooley found the source of the blood. It was ductal hyperplasia with atypia and could be medically treated, while it was also monitored with BEST imaging.

Unfortunately, Julie, had a different result. Although her mammogram had shown FCD, her BEST image revealed breast cancer. Julie went on to have surgery and is receiving radiation therapy. She found out her sentinel lymph nodes were negative. In six months she will have another BEST test to look for recurrence of the cancer. I know that taking the tests gave us both a chance to survive–and ultimately thrive.

*Sherry Peterson is based in Omaha, Nebraska.
Her name has been changed to protect her privacy.
The model depicted in this story is not “Sherry.”