SINGAPORE - AuntMinnie.com spoke with breast imaging expert Katja Pinker-Domenig, MD, PhD, from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) annual meeting.
Pinker-Domenig gave an update on first-in-human research she is leading to develop a multiparametric MRI protocol for breast cancer imaging during surgery. The study seeks to determine whether the use of the fluorescent imaging agent pHLIP ICG and near-infrared fluorescence imaging during surgery can help surgeons see tumors and nearby tissues that contain cancer cells more clearly and remove them completely.
“We have concluded phase I that was the dose finding and establishing the MRI protocol and are now in phase IIa where we are putting that to the test for diagnostic accuracy,” she said.
Also, while it was early in the meeting when we caught up to Pinker-Domenig, she touched on a few sessions she was looking forward to attending. Particularly, she noted that while the buzz around AI continues, between last year’s meeting and this year’s in Singapore, we are now seeing more studies showing successful clinical implementation of the technology.
“Particularly in my world, the breast imaging world, there are numerous applications where AI can make us better clinicians and better MR physicists,” she said.
Finally, Pinker-Domenig discussed the importance of the clinical focus meeting (“MRI: Transforming Diagnosis & Care in Trauma”) at ISMRM 2024, noting that the topic is one that many clinicians, including herself, have probably not considered in depth.
“This year, we have a very interesting one highlighting the role of MRI in the emergency setting, where we clinicians probably haven’t even thought so much about what could be the role,” she said.
