[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 106 (Thursday, July 24, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WEIZMANN INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SIDNEY R. YATES

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 24, 1997

  Mr. YATES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with the Members of 
this House an article that appeared in the July 3, 1997 edition of the 
USA Today concerning the new and novel research techniques that the 
Weizmann Institute for Science in Rehovot, Israel, has developed to 
help identify tumors as benign, or malignant, without invasive surgery.
  Finding cancer without subjecting the individual to a traumatic 
procedure promises to increase the possibility of early detection and 
ultimately save lives.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that the full text of the article be placed in the 
Record so that my colleagues may have an opportunity to read about this 
revolutionary new procedure.

                    Finding Cancer Without Biopsies

                          (By Steve Sternberg)

       Researchers have found a novel way to peer beneath the 
     surface of the intact human breast and tell benign lumps from 
     malignant ones, according to a report out today.
       The technique, if proven reliable in large-scale studies, 
     promises to spare women with breast lumps the discomfort of a 
     biopsy, during which doctors remove a bit of suspect tissue 
     for close examination.
       Although this research focuses on breast tumors, doctors 
     say the method also may help diagnose other tumors and 
     monitor treatment.
       Hadassa Degani, lead author of a report appearing in 
     today's Nature Medicine, says the method uses a standard 
     diagnostic tool in a new way. The tool is known as magnetic 
     resonance imaging (MRI), which detects magnetic oscillations 
     deep within tissues.
       With the help of a computer, MRI turns this information 
     into images--a rapid sequence of them or one at a time. By 
     taking individual frames, the researchers can obtain detailed 
     images of the tissues' architecture, showing whether cells 
     are densely or loosely packed and whether blood vessels are 
     normal or riddled with leaks.
       Degani, of the Weizmann Institute for Science in Rehovot, 
     Israel, and colleagues inject the breast with a fluid that 
     shows up in high contrast in an MRI image. They create one 
     image before the fluid is injected and two afterward. Using 
     three images, rather than a rapid sequence of them, 
     guarantees clear resolution.
       By carefully timing the three exposures, doctors can also 
     observe dynamic changes as the contrast medium penetrates the 
     breast tissues. Cancerous tissues show up as a wildly 
     disorganized jumble of cells, with black regions of dead 
     cells and tangles of leaky blood vessels. Normal tissues are 
     more orderly and less compressed, with normal blood vessels.
       Degani says that potentially ``any abnormally can be 
     diagnosed, monitored and assessed.''
       Mitchell Schnall, head of MRI at the University of 
     Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, praises her work. 
     ``She's done some careful studies to lay the groundwork for 
     us to understand what we see in breast studies by MRI.''

     

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