Tomography
Breast ultrasound within seconds
SOFIA is the new automated breast tomography system developed by iVu Imaging and presented at ECR 2015 by Hitachi. The system, beyond its charming name, offers some very charming features indeed which may make SOFIA the most comfortable scanner currently available on the market.
Comfortable
The height-adjustable and ultra-soft SOFIA table provides easy access for the patient who is scanned in a prone position. Comfort and privacy are ensured with the breast being placed in a soft round aperture. The scanning procedure requires neither compression, nor contrast injection or ionizing radiation; just a small amount of ultrasound gel has to be applied before the platform slides slowly underneath the breast, acquiring data sets that can be presented in 2D, 3D and MPR.
Fast
Time is of the essence for both physician and patient. SOFIA needs a mere 52 seconds to acquire an entire breast volume. With an average image reading time of two minutes per case patients can be scheduled every 15 minutes for a bilateral exam. This increased patient throughput translates into decreased costs per patient.
Easy to use
SOFIA, which is compatible with the leading ultrasound systems, is controlled via a touch screen user interface with three intuitive and icon-driven menus: Pre-Scan, Automated Scan and Manual Scan. Pre-Scan allows a 360° rapid review to confirm optimization of the scan parameters. Automated Scan performs a fully automated whole-breast scan without user interaction. Images are automatically acquired and stored. Manual Scan allows the user to advance or reverse the transducer position.
High detection rates due to radial scanning
An important feature of this new technology is radial rather than linear scanning of the breast. As tumours are frequently located radially in the breast, linear scanning may not detect anomalies – a disadvantage that radial scanning avoids.
SOFIA is designed as an adjunct to mammography for dense breast patients, for identification of bilateral and multi-focal disease states, diagnosis of palpable breast masses, evaluation of breast implants, and whole breast imaging for patients where mammography is contraindicated.
06.03.2015
