NEW MEXICO
NM Cancer Center debuts advanced breast cancer imaging
New Mexico Cancer Center's all-female breast team becomes the first in the state to offer estrogen receptor-targeted PET imaging
An all-female cancer team is bringing innovation to the state.
The New Mexico Cancer Center will become the first facility in the state to offer advanced estrogen receptor-targeted Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging for patients with recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.
"New Mexico Cancer Center has worked really hard to bring it here for our patients," said Colleen Kerrigan, a breast surgical oncologist. "New Mexicans deserve the best possible care. You deserve cutting-edge, excellent care without having to travel four hours, stay in a hotel or pay for all that gas. That's crazy."
Advanced estrogen receptor-targeted PET imaging is a specialized body scan that uses a radioactive tracer to identify specific breast cancer cells that may not appear on traditional imaging.
"Sometimes we get cancers that just don't show up on a regular PET scan," said Katherine Sanchez, a medical oncologist who specializes in breast cancer. "This offers us a new way to look at those cancers."
The imaging can also help determine the cancer's receptor status.
"If it lights up, that means it's an estrogen receptor-positive cancer, and cancers change over time," Kerrigan said. "Just because it started off as one receptor type doesn't mean it will stay that way. It can evolve."
About 1 in 8 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.
Given how many women receive a breast cancer diagnosis each year, Sanchez and Kerrigan believe a female-led care team offers some patients added comfort.
"A lot of breast cancer patients like to see women. I think they feel comfortable talking to other women," Kerrigan said. "It's just sort of in our nature to care a lot."
Both physicians hope more New Mexico women will choose to stay in the state for cancer treatment.
"I want women to know there really is excellent breast cancer care here," Sanchez said. "I really feel like it makes a huge difference when women don't have to leave their hometown or their state."
Isabella Campbell is an intern with the New Mexico Local 近距离内射合集 Fellowships and Internships Program, which places emerging journalists in newsrooms across New Mexico. Learn more at . She can be reached at icampbell@abqjournal.com.
