Together, we’re finding a gold standard for diagnosing lobular breast cancer
When Hamilton woman Jackie was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer, her doctors couldn’t be sure how far the cancer had spread. Following surgery, cancer was found in four lymph nodes, but whether it had moved beyond them was unclear. That uncertainty left Jackie facing a life-changing decision: should she go through chemotherapy, or not?
To get answers, Jackie paid more than $3,000 for a PET/CT scan at a private clinic.
"It showed the cancer hadn’t spread, so we decided not to go ahead with chemotherapy,” she says. “For me, the scan was the reassurance I needed to move on.”
Jackie’s story is exactly why Breast Cancer Foundation NZ is funding the Lumina PET/CT trial, a first-of-its-kind study to find a gold standard for diagnosing and staging lobular breast cancer, one of the hardest types to detect.
Unlike other breast cancers, lobular breast cancer spreads in thin strands through breast tissue rather than forming a clear lump. This makes it difficult to see on mammograms or standard scans, and it means women are sometimes overtreated with unnecessary chemotherapy or radiation, or undertreated if the disease has spread further than expected.
Led by Dr Remy Lim, medical director at Allevia Radiology, the Lumina trial is testing how PET/CT imaging can more accurately diagnose lobular breast cancer.
The trial is progressing well, with more than 20 women across New Zealand already scanned — well ahead of schedule. New hospital sites have joined, and clinicians are seeing how this new imaging approach could transform the way they plan and monitor treatment.
As the trial developed, the trial team saw a new opportunity. For some patients, additional imaging could reveal how their cancer responds to treatment or whether it has changed over time. These follow-up scans offer vital information that’s not available in the public system, where PET/CT imaging is limited and not routinely funded for breast cancer.
With your support, Breast Cancer Foundation NZ has funded a new sub-study so participants can receive up to two additional scans if their doctor recommends it. Around 40% of participants are expected to benefit from this extra funding.
As Dr Lim explains,
“Some tumours are so small it would be impossible to evaluate them with any other imaging. It’s been very exciting to see what these scans can pick up.”
The trial also offers a travel grant to women who live outside trial centres. This helps to ensure that women from rural or remote communities can take part.
The Lumina trial, fully funded by Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, represents one of our biggest projects this year. It’s only possible thanks to the generosity of donors who believe in better, faster and fairer breast cancer care for all New Zealanders.
Because of you, we’re not just improving how lobular breast cancer is diagnosed, we’re helping set a new gold standard for care, giving women and their doctors the confidence to make the right decisions, at the right time. Our hope is in time, PET-CT imaging will become funded for lobular breast cancer. The results of this trial have the potential to be practice-changing, and it’s all thanks to your support.
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Have you been touched by breast cancer and would like to share your story? We’d love to hear more about it.
