Pink Lotus Breast Center First in the U.S. to Launch GE's Contrast Enhanced Spectral Mammography

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pink Lotus Breast Center, a comprehensive and integrative breast center exclusively dedicated to the prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, today announced the unveiling of GE Healthcare's Contrast Enhanced Spectral Mammography ("CESM") technology at its flagship breast center in Beverly Hills. CESM will be provided at the facility's Sheryl Crow Imaging Center - the first facility in the country to make this new advancement available to patients.

"We expect CESM to minimize the anxiety-provoking delay between finding something on screening mammography that might be cancer, and giving a woman definitive answers with a plan," says Kristi Funk, M.D., founder of the Pink Lotus Breast Center.

When an inconclusive mammogram and ultrasound require further testing, scheduling and completing the next step – such as MRI – often creates a circuitous and lengthy path that may not even lead to a diagnosis. CESM shortens this path for many patients in several ways: (1) a CESM exam only takes a little longer than a diagnostic mammogram, and uses the same equipment as a routine mammogram, which patients already understand; (2) the CESM technology clearly isolates concerning lesions while hiding non-cancerous tissue, thus eliminating the ambiguity of the initial study; (3) unlike MRI, CESM is not confounded by hormone replacement or menstrual cycles, so CESM can be scheduled immediately with results available within minutes, and (4) compared to MRI, CESM does not cause as much discomfort or claustrophobia, and is four times faster.  The exam is simple: after an intravenous injection of contrast dye (similar to MRI), the patient receives a mammogram using CESM technology, which essentially analyzes blood flow patterns within the breast tissue to create a clear picture of normal versus abnormal findings. 

"More than ever before, patients who have an inconclusive mammogram can expedite their path to a diagnosis using CESM," says Lori-Beth Sewell, Chief Operating Officer at the Pink Lotus Breast Center. "This further sets us apart from other organizations that are often so departmentally fragmented that the path to diagnosis can last weeks or even longer."

As a fully comprehensive breast center, the Pink Lotus Breast Center prides itself in providing new technological advances like CESM, as well as in offering a wide variety of screening and diagnostic tools that allow patients to be quickly diagnosed, minimizing their anxiety over the unknown. This philosophy is one of several reasons why GE Healthcare selected the Pink Lotus Breast Center to launch its CESM technology, which carries the brand name SenoBright.  CESM significantly reduces patient angst by resolving inconclusive findings with a short wait.

Women who receive a CESM exam at the Sheryl Crow Imaging Center have immediate access to a health system that was created and optimized specifically for the treatment of breast diseases. Every woman has a variety of on-site options, including clinical breast exams by fellowship trained and board certified surgeons, diagnostic biopsies, genetic testing, surgery, radiation, nutrition, support groups and additional ancillary services designed to guide each woman through the entire spectrum of her cancer treatment in one single location.

About the Pink Lotus Breast Center

The Pink Lotus Breast Center is a comprehensive and integrative breast center exclusively dedicated to the prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. At the Pink Lotus Breast Center, women enjoy the unique experience of holistic care linked seamlessly to the latest digital imaging technology and state-of-the-art surgery, all in one single location. The organization's mission conveys one clear purpose: to offer the most comprehensive and integrative breast care available today in a warm environment that provides all women with security and confidence when they need it most. For more information, please visit www.pinklotusbreastcenter.com or http://facebook.com/pinklotusbreastcenter. Pink Lotus Breast Center is a trademark of Pink Lotus Medical Holdings.

SOURCE Pink Lotus Breast Center