These undated images, provided by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, shows a standard mammogram, left, and molecular breast imaging (MBI) from a study performed on a 45-year-old patient in the clinic's screening of women with dense breasts. The mammogram was interpreted as being negative while the MBI image shows a cancerous growth indicated by the arrow. (AP Photo/The Mayo Clinic)
Mammograms — a type of X-ray — are the chief way now to check for breast cancer. MBI uses radiation, too, but in a different way. Women are given an intravenous dose of a short-acting tracer that is absorbed more by abnormal cells than healthy ones. Special cameras collect the "glow" these cells give off, and doctors look at the picture to spot tumors.
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