Molecular Breast Imaging and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis in Screening Patients With Dense Breast Tissue

February 2, 2026 updated by: Mayo Clinic

Density MATTERS [Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) And Tomosynthesis To Eliminate the ReServoir]

This study compares molecular breast imaging (MBI) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) in screening patients with dense breast tissue. Breast imaging may help doctors find breast cancer sooner, when it may be easier to treat. Molecular breast imaging (MBI) uses an injection of a small amount of radioactive material that is taken up in tissues of the body that are actively changing, such as breast cancer. A specialized camera, called a gamma camera, takes pictures of the gamma rays emitted by this material. MBI may detect cancers that are not visible on mammograms. This study may help researchers determine how MBI testing compares to DBT screening.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

This study includes women age 40-75 who are presenting for breast cancer screening and had mammographically dense breasts on their last mammogram. Participants undergo annual DBT and MBI screening for two years. The primary aim for this study is to compare the rate of detection of invasive cancers between DBT alone vs. the combination of DBT with supplemental MBI at the first year of screening.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
3023

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Michigan
      • Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48202
        • Henry Ford Hospital
    • Minnesota
      • Rochester, Minnesota, United States, 55905
        • Mayo Clinic in Rochester
    • Ohio
      • Toledo, Ohio, United States, 43623
        • Toledo Clinic Cancer Centers-Toledo
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • M D Anderson Cancer Center
    • Wisconsin
      • La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, 54601
        • Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patient is a consenting female age 40-75 years
  • Patient is scheduled for routine screening DBT
  • Patient is asymptomatic for breast disease
  • Patient had heterogeneously dense or extremely dense breasts on most recent prior mammography examination (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System [BI-RADS] c or d) within 24 months of enrollment
  • Patient is able to participate fully in all aspects of the study (completing study visits and study data collection)
  • Patient understands and signs the study informed consent
  • Patient anticipates being able to return one year after study enrollment to complete the second round of screening

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patient is currently pregnant or plans to become pregnant during the course of the study
  • Patient is currently lactating
  • Patient has had a prior MBI
  • Patient has had a prior whole breast ultrasound (WBUS) for screening, with either a hand-held ultrasound probe or automated system, within 12 months prior to study enrollment
  • Patient has had a prior breast MRI
  • Patient has had a prior contrast-enhanced mammogram (contrast enhanced spectral mammography [CESM] or contrast-enhanced digital mammography [CEDM])
  • Patient is concurrently participating in any other breast imaging research studies that involve undergoing additional breast imaging tests beyond routine screening with mammography, including but not limited to contrast-enhanced mammography, WBUS, MBI, or contrast-enhanced breast MRI
  • Patient has had a breast biopsy within 3 months prior to study enrollment
  • Patient has had breast surgery within 12 months prior to study enrollment
  • Patient is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer or planning surgery for a high-risk breast lesion (atypical ductal hyperplasia [ADH], atypical lobular hyperplasia [ALH], lobular carcinoma in situ [LCIS], papilloma, radial scar)
  • Patient is currently taking a chemoprevention agent for breast cancer risk reduction or osteoporosis prevention (tamoxifen, raloxifene, anastrazole, letrozole, exemestane)
  • Patient has a known history of any condition or factor judged by the investigator to preclude participation in the study or which might hinder study adherence

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: DBT alone
All participants undergo DBT screening
Procedure: Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT)
DBT is standard of care breast screening
Other Names:
  • DBT
  • Digital Breast Tomosynthesis
  • Digital Tomosynthesis of the Breast
  • Digital Tomosynthesis Mammography
Experimental: DBT + MBI
All participants undergo DBT screening + supplemental MBI
Radiation: Scintimammography
Undergo MBI
Other Names:
  • MBI
  • Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging
  • Miraluma Scan
  • Miraluma Test
  • Molecular Breast Imaging
  • Nuclear Medicine Breast Imaging
  • sestamibi breast imaging
  • Sestamibi Scintimammography
Procedure: Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT)
DBT is standard of care breast screening
Other Names:
  • DBT
  • Digital Breast Tomosynthesis
  • Digital Tomosynthesis of the Breast
  • Digital Tomosynthesis Mammography

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of Detection of Invasive Cancers
Time Frame: At year 1 screening
Compare the rate of detection of invasive cancers between DBT alone versus (vs.) the combination of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) with supplemental molecular breast imaging (MBI) at initial (year 1) screening. For each modality, the detection rate of invasive cancers will be estimated as the proportion of participants in the analysis set who had an invasive cancer detected by the modality and verified by pathology.
At year 1 screening

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Rate of detection of invasive cancers
Time Frame: At year 0 screening
Will compare the rate of detection of invasive cancers between DBT alone vs. MBI alone at Year 0 screening. The comparison will be based on a 2-sided McNemar's test at statistical significance level alpha= 0.05.
At year 0 screening
Screening performance metrics of sensitivity
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
Sensitivity will be estimated for each modality as the proportion of women with breast cancer who have true positive test results. Will be analyzed to compare performance of DBT alone vs. MBI alone, and DBT alone vs. the combination of DBT with supplemental MBI. Uncertainty in the estimate of sensitivity will be quantified through a two-sided 95% confidence interval (CI) based on the binomial distribution. If a sufficient number of radiologists interpret exams from multiple patients with breast cancer, secondary analysis may also include a 95% CI and chi-squared test adjusted for clustering of results within radiologist to allow generalization to both the population of patients and the population of radiologists.
At year 0 and year 1 screening
Screening performance metrics of specificity
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
Specificity will be estimated as the proportion of women without breast cancer who have TN test results. Will be analyzed to compare performance of DBT alone vs. MBI alone, and DBT alone vs. the combination of DBT with supplemental MBI.
At year 0 and year 1 screening
Screening performance metrics of recall rate
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
Recall rate (defined as the proportion of patients recalled from the screening test for diagnostic workup among the total number of patients screened) will be estimated employing analytical strategies similar to sensitivity and specificity. McNemar's test will be used to compare rates between two modalities. Will be analyzed to compare performance of DBT alone vs. MBI alone, and DBT alone vs. the combination of DBT with supplemental MBI.
At year 0 and year 1 screening
Screening performance metrics of biopsy rate
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
Biopsy rate (defined as the proportion of patients in whom biopsy is generated from a particular modality among the total number of patients screened) will be estimated employing analytical strategies similar to sensitivity and specificity. McNemar's test will be used to compare rates between two modalities. Will be analyzed to compare performance of DBT alone vs. MBI alone, and DBT alone vs. the combination of DBT with supplemental MBI.
At year 0 and year 1 screening
Screening performance metrics of positive predictive value and negative predictive value
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
Predictive values will be estimated for each modality based on data pooled across radiologists. Positive predictive value (PPV)1 (the proportion of patients with breast cancer among patients with abnormal screening examinations), PPV3 (the proportion of breast cancers diagnosed among biopsies performed), and negative predictive value (NPV) (the proportion of patients without breast cancer among those with normal screening examinations) will be determined. Will be analyzed to compare performance of DBT alone vs. MBI alone, and DBT alone vs. the combination of DBT with supplemental MBI.
At year 0 and year 1 screening
Characteristics of all cancers (invasive and noninvasive) detected on DBT and MBI
Time Frame: At year 1 screening
Will compare tumor characteristics of all cancers (invasive and noninvasive) detected on DBT and MBI, including size, nodal status, and molecular subtype. The analysis comparing tumor characteristics will be descriptive. Size, nodal status, and molecular subtype (including estrogen and progesterone receptor status, HER-2 status, Ki-67 and Oncotype DX score as available) will be abstracted from clinical final pathology reports from all biopsies and surgeries performed. The distribution of sizes will be summarized by ordinary numeric (e.g., means, standard deviations [SDs], range) and graphical (e.g., histograms, density smoothers) summaries. Descriptive summaries of the lesions identified with MBI but not DBT and vice versa will also be calculated to understand the differences in performance should one be identified.
At year 1 screening
Change in advanced cancer rate with incorporation of MBI screening
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
Will assess whether the incorporation of MBI screening reduces advanced cancer rate, the rate of advanced cancers detected at Year 1 screening will be compared to the rate at Year 0 screening. The rates of advanced cancers, together with their respective 95% confidence intervals, will be estimated for Year 0 and Year 1. Comparison in the rates between Year 0 and Year 1 will utilize the test of two proportions based on exact binomial distributions.
At year 0 and year 1 screening
Rate of interval cancers with incorporation of MBI screening
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
We will estimate the rate of interval cancers from our study and provide a 95% confidence interval.
At year 0 and year 1 screening
Relative performance of DBT and MBI within subgroups categorized by breast cancer risk
Time Frame: At year 0 and year 1 screening
The relative performance of the screening modalities (sensitivity and specificity) will be characterized separately, within subgroups of patients defined by various levels of risk. The statistical power to discern differential performances of the screening modalities among different risk subgroups may be limited due to the restricted sample size in these subgroup analyses.
At year 0 and year 1 screening

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Mayo Clinic

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Carrie B. Hruska, M.D., Mayo Clinic in Rochester

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
June 14, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
September 30, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
November 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 15, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 15, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 18, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
February 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 2, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 16-008522 (Mayo Clinic in Rochester)
  • NCI-2021-12015 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))
  • R01CA239200 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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