Izotropic Receives Patent to Measure Breast Density with Breast CT

Izotropic Corporation has announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued U. S. Patent No. 10,548,549, entitled “Measuring Breast Density Using Breast Computed Tomography” for a 20-year term, expiring in 2037. This patent covers the use of the Company’s Breast CT Imaging System to measure breast density.

Principal Founder and Director, Dr. John Boone states, “An accurate assessment of breast density is necessary to better understand a woman’s risk for getting breast cancer. With two-dimensional mammography, the dense tissues in the breast tend to overlap each other, preventing the radiologist from making an accurate assessment of breast density. With truly 3D breast computed tomography, the glandular areas on each of the thin CT images can be assessed using a computer algorithm. Summing all the glandular volumes for the entire breast CT study, allows a very accurate assessment of breast density. Because the computer algorithm can determine the glandular fraction of the breast quantitatively, the estimation of breast density using breast CT is more accurate and precise than the subjective values determined during radiologist interpretation of mammograms.”

According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly half of all women age 40 and older who get mammograms are found to have dense breasts. Dense breast tissue appears white on a mammogram — so do suspicious lesions and tumors. The density of the tissue as well as the compression required for current standard mammography and tomosynthesis breast imaging could obscure abnormalities that may otherwise be further investigated if they were observed using these imaging modalities in non-dense breast tissue. Currently only a mammogram can diagnose and confirm breast density.

Given the prevalence of women with dense breast tissue and the limitations of mammography and tomosynthesis, the Company believes breast CT and its patented density measurement capability will not only revolutionize how breast density measurements will be taken in the future, but also how breast CT will contribute to the reduction of false-negative breast imaging results. With mammography, approximately 20% of breast cancers are missed that are present at the time of screening.

The market opportunity for breast imaging and cancer detection is growing. One study projects the breast imaging market will grow from an estimated 3.7B USD in 2020 to 5.4B USD by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 8.1%.