European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is published by IMR Press from Volume 40 Issue 1 (2019). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Differential diagnosis of breast lesions by use of biomagnetic activity and non-linear analysis
Purpose: Breast cancer mortality rates have not changed during the past 60 years despite significant advances in screening methods. It is tempting therefore to use novel technology in order to better understand breast oncology. In this study we investigated the biomagnetic activity obtained in benign and malignant breast lesions using a single channel biomagnetometer SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) in order to assess the method's efficacy in the differential diagnosis of these two types of lesions and its establishment as a screening technique. Method: Magnetic recordings were obtained from 2 I patients with palpable breast lumps. Of these 11 were invasive carcinomas and 10 were benign breast lesions. We used non-linear analysis to investigate whether there is any biological differentiation in the dynamics in these two types of lesions. Results: High amplitudes characterized the waveform of a malignant breast lesion whereas in benign breast lesions the corresponding amplitudes were low. Using the application of non-linear analysis we observed a clear saturation value for the dimension of malignant breast lesions and no saturation for benign ones. Discussion: Biomagnetic measurements with the SQUID and the application of non-linear analysis are promising procedures in assessing and differentiating breast tumors.