In addition to being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this October is the tenth anniversary of digital mammography, a technology introduced by GE Healthcare in 1999. Similar to digital photography, digital mammography replaces the film used in traditional mammography with digital files viewed and stored on computers.
A paper of Professor Christiane K Kuhl and her colleagues had discovered that, to detect pre-invasive breast cancer (DCIS), the addition of high-resolution MRI and state-of-the-art mammography offered a significantly higher sensitivity compared with state-of-the-art mammography.
Preliminary results of a study on the acceptance of the German mammography screening programme indicate that women support current efforts to detect breast cancer early.
Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) is a promising new technology designed to supplement mammography and breast ultrasound examinations when these show suspicious findings. By helping to detect early stage breast cancer it may reduce significantly the number of negative biopsies performed. Dilon Technologies (Newport News, Virginia), pioneer of this technology, received the CE Mark to sell its…
Reducing dose and producing excellent image quality at the same time is the challenge of today´s mammography systems. The Institute for Clinical Radiology at the University Clinic Munich managed this challenge with the installation of two new digital full-field mammography solutions which in addition can be used for tomosynthesis. At June 25th, the clinic will demonstrate the benefits of these…
European healthcare facilities are turning to vendor-neutral, multi-modality breast imaging workstations to streamline reading of digital breast exams. The KODAK CARESTREAM Mammography Workstation enables diagnostic review of all breast imaging exams (FFDM, ultrasound, MR, CR and others) as well as all general radiology exams.
Senology is fast becoming a medical specialty that utilises methods and knowledge from various medical disciplines specifically to treat breast cancer. Based in Dusseldorf, the European Academy of Senology (EAoS) aims to close the gap between theory and practical applications.
Studies show promise for fast, 5-day therapy for early-stage breast cancer patients
Not so long ago this country, of considerable linguistic division, was a split into three regions, referred to as Flemish (with five provinces), Walloon (with five provinces) and the Brussels Capital. Each has its own parliament, with governments responsible for their individual region's affairs; these include health. Dr Catherine Breucq, head of the Breast Imaging Department at Brussels…
Although breast cancer, the most common disease affecting women, accounts for over 30% of all the cancers they suffer (far ahead of colon, ovary or lung cancer), breast cancer is responsible for only 1% of cancer related deaths.
Every year the German Society for Senology congress facilitates interdisciplinary breast cancer discussion between gynaecologists, radiologists, surgeons, pathologists, internists, radio-oncologists and plastic surgeons. In an interview with Karoline Laarmann, of European Hospital, radiologist Professor Ingrid Schreer (right), head of the Breast Centre at the University Women's Hospital in Kiel,…
Among the most important EU guidelines for efficient breast cancer screening is the assumption that it is a low-threshold offer, which, after an initial start-up period, will include at least 70% of all women aged between 50 and 69. To ensure that this quota is met in areas that lack infrastructure, whilst also keeping personnel expenditure at bay, for the last few years mammobiles have toured…
The breast cancer risk of women who are regularly physically active in the postmenopausal phase is reduced by about one third compared to relatively inactive women, according to a study conducted by the German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the University Hospitals of Hamburg-Eppendorf.
Arriving at the Austrian Congress Center in Vienna, a pink truck is striking the eyes of the visitors of ECR. The truck took the long way from Belgium to Austria to demonstrate a pretty successful project of the University Hospital Brussels: A mobile mammography unit that examines women living in rural areas and who otherwise would probably not join the screening programm. The trailer was…
Within the last three decades, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance breast imaging has gone through substantial developments, evolving to become the imaging modality with the highest sensitivity for breast cancer detection. The indication to perform breast MRI ranges widely, including high-risk patients, dense breast tissue and therapy monitoring under primary systemic therapy.
The diagnostic use of ultrasound has improved significantly because of improved resolution and reduction in artifacts, allowing increasingly more specific examination.
The Dutch screening programme, which began in 1990, invites women aged 50-75 years for mammography screening every two years. Today, the national programme is undergoing considerable regional re-organisation. As one of a team of 12 radiologists at the Alkmaar Medical Centre, Dr Shirley Go is responsible for Mammography and Screening in a large Dutch region. Daniela Zimmermann, asked Dr Go about…
Dr Giorgio Rizzatto, who heads the Department of Diagnostic Imaging at ASS 2 Isontina (including the Gorizia and Monfalcone hospitals) in NE Italy, works with nine radiologists, who examine and report on 80,000 clinical and screening breast examinations annually.
Big discussions are expected at the upcoming European Association of Urology (EAU) Congress in Stockholm* when urologist Dr Jochen Walz (right), of the Urological Department at the Institute Paoli-Calmettes, Marseilles, France, presents the forum: Imaging in Europe: Who, where, what, how many! and M F Coelho, of the European Society of Urological Imaging (ESUI) describes the Clinical utility of…
Siemens Healthcare recently presented its first MRI breast scanner, Magnetom Espree-Pink. The 1.5-Tesla system is the latest innovation in magnetic resonance imaging, featuring a dedicated solution for breast examinations. Particularly for obese and claustrophobic patients, the large, 70-centimeter magnet bore makes examinations more comfortable, or, in some cases, it makes them possible for the…
Carestream Health installed its two thousandth high-resolution CR system for mammography at the Rechts der Isar Clinic in Munich, Germany. The company's CR Mammography Feature which enables mammography images to be captured digitally while utilizing a healthcare provider's existing mammography x-ray unit and workflow processes is intended for use in the same clinical and screening applications…
Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) is effective in the detection of cancers not found on mammograms or by clinical exam, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
The Acuson S2000 Automated Breast Volume Scanner (ABVS) system automatically and quickly acquires full-field sonographic volumes for comprehensive review and diagnosis of the breast streamlining workflow and reducing operator dependence and variability.
If, in the early days of mammary sonography, it was revealed to be helpful to render tactual findings in a visible manner (sonic palpation), then now is the time to palpate clinically occult findings in a new manner (Elastoscan*).
'Diagnostics is not diagnostics, not even when it relates to a specific indication such as breast cancer,' says Professor Walter Heindel MD (right), who heads the Munster Mammography and Breast Centre Reference Centre at Munster University Hospital, focusing on the dissimilarities among patient groups and their peculiarities.