New Cancer Detection Offered at Breast Center

A local partnership’s new Breast Center of Northwest Arkansas will be the first in the state to have a new form of breast cancer detection technology. Owned by Imaging Associates of Northwest Arkansas LLC — a partnership of Dr. Danna Grear, Dr. Kevin Pope, Dr. Murray T. Harris and Dr. Steven E. Harms — the center is building a 7,000-SF facility on Sunbridge Drive in Fayetteville that’s scheduled to open in June.

The new technology is a form of Magnetic Resonance Imaging called Aurora Breast MRI. It comes from a new set of imaging instructions that separate it from traditional MRI.

A traditional breast MRI combines a high-field strength magnet with specialized software to produce high-quality/high-resolution images of the breast. The Aurora technology uses a new software to produce a clearer image.

“It allows you to spot cancer like a bright light in the dark sky,” Harms said.

The imaging instructions, called Rotating Delivery of Excitation Off Resonance, make it easier for doctors to detect cancer against the background of regular breast tissue.

“Other MRI’s are like looking at a snowman in a snowstorm,” Dr. Harms said. “You end up with a bright light surrounded by other bright tissue. Aurora takes out the signal from normal tissue, such as fat and normal ductal tissue, so all you are left with is a bright light.”

Harms developed the technology about 10 years ago and sold it in 2001 to Aurora Imaging Technology of North Andover, Mass. In the 1970s, Harms conducted research with Dr. Paul Lauterbur, who originated the MRI and was nominated for the 2003 Nobel Prize for medicine. Harms was formerly the Director of Imaging Research and a professor of radiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Harms is now a principle and part owner in the company. The sale was essentially an exchange for a portion of Aurora’s stock.

Aurora Imaging finds breast centers and partners with them, splitting the technical revenue.

“It allows the breast center to have the technology without as much of an upfront investment,” Harms said.

A regular MRI machine could cost from $1.5 million to $2 million.

“To break even on one, you would have to see six patients a day,” Harms said.

The Breast Center’s only upfront cost, Harms said, is the space and the staff to house the technology, which includes the salary of two technologists.

“The breast centers are the lowest paid of all radiologic specialties, and they don’t have a lot of money,” Harms said. “We go in there and take that issue out of the way for them and allow them to do superior work at a lower price.”

The new system, which lists for about $1.4 million, will be the first in the country built completely from scratch with the Aurora technology in place.

The 7,000-pound magnet for the system arrived at the Breast Center’s future location last week. The new procedure won’t be put to use until the new location opens in June.

“It will be the first production version with the technology that I developed,” Harms said. “We have nine other systems out there but they are based on older technology.”

The Breast Center first opened in its interim Fayetteville facility on Millsap Road in October 2003. The center has seen more than 2,100 patients so far. Their services at the new facility will include digital mammography with computer-aided detection, breast ultrasound, ultrasound-guided needle biopsy and stereo-tactic needle biopsy, in addition to Aurora Breast MRI technology. “There are several other MRI’s in the area but this is the only one that makes a dedicated breast MRI,” Mary Lou Wilson, director of The Breast Center, said.

The center has breast imaging specialists Grear, Pope, and Harris in addition to Harms, who will be performing the Aurora procedure.