A study recently published in the online version of the American Journal of Roentgenology evaluated the clinical value of Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) software in the interpretation of mammograms. In the course of the study, the recall rate, sensitivity, positive predictive value, and cancer detection rate for single reading with CAD, versus double reading without CAD, were investigated.
GE Healthcare recently acquired Image Diagnost International GmbH, an IT provider specialised on developing integrated software solutions for mammography workflow and image processing. With this acquisition GE Healthcare expands its capabilities in offering clinicians and national screening services an even more expanded portfolio for the detection of breast cancer.
For women with breast symptoms such as lumps, the ability of diagnostic mammograms to detect breast cancer accurately depends strongly on which radiologist reads them, according to a Group Health study published online Dec. 11 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Stereoscopic digital mammography, a new diagnostic technique capable of producing three-dimensional (3-D) in-depth views of breast tissue, could significantly reduce the number of women who are recalled for additional tests following routine screening mammography.
Dr Eduardo de la Sota reports
“We have a broad set of products and services that enable healthcare providers to improve the quality and cost of patient care,” said Carestream Health's Chief Executive Officer Kevin J. Hobert with reference to Carestream´s RSNA highlights. “We have digital technology and consulting services that few companies can match, and our integrated imaging and IT solutions are helping healthcare…
X-ray based mammograms detect only 56% of early lesions in high risk women compared with 92% when MRI scanning (mostly used for brain scans), according to a study by Christiane Kuhl and colleagues at the University of Bonn (pub: the Lancet. 8/07).
Switzerland - European experts presented and debates that controversial topic - breast cancer screening programmes - during a September symposium organised by Carestream Health.
Hologic will be one of the biggest exhibitors at the 93rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
The Vestfold County Study, performed by Norwegian researchers, is the first large scale study comparing the results of a particular full-field digital mammography system (FFDM) with that of conventional mammography. Einar Vigeland, Department of Radiology, Vestfold Hospital, Tønsberg, Norway, and his colleagues collected data over a period of two years.
Turkey - The recently opened 74-bed Florence Nightingale Kiziltoprak Hospital, which has three operating rooms and 10 ICU beds, is one of four hospitals in a Turkish healthcare network.
Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring malignant tumour worldwide. Of the more than one million newly diagnosed cases each year, the incidence among women in Germany alone is more than 50,000. That means that every tenth woman is stricken by breast cancer at some point in her life. It numbers among the most frequent causes of death by cancer 1,2,3 , with the average age of onset being…
By Beate M Stoeckelhuber MD, Associate Professor and Radiology (Interim) Director at the Department of Radiology, Luebeck University, Germany, with Smaragda Kapsimalakou MD, also at Luebeck
Italy — One of the biggest RIS/PACS implementations in Europe is being co-ordinated the Area Vasta Centro (AVC) group, which runs 12 hospitals in central Tuscany. Among these, CPA Pistoia hospital (one of three in the ASL 3 Pistoia group, a sub-division of AVC) is streamlining its mammography workflow with a CR Mammography system supplied by Agfa HealthCare.
Radiation oncologists and diagnostic radiologists will be encouraged to forge partnerships at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) congress in Chicago this November helped by a new programme, called Bolstering Oncoradiologic and Oncoradiotherapeutic Skills for Tomorrow (BOOST)
Paolo Belli MD, Carmen Malaspina MD and Professor Lorenzo Bonomo, of the Department of Radiology, UCSC, Policlinico A. Gemelli, Rome, discuss results from using computed tomographic laser mammography (CTLM) to detect cancers occult to mammography in dense breasts, and their comparison of CTLM with MRI to follow results of neo-adjunctive chemotherapy
"Tomosynthesis is a hot topic in all the companies involved in mammography", Professor Danielsson pointed out. "But whereas they are developing more or less the same thing, Sectra has a totally different concept - photon-counting - a unique technology that, for the first time, processes X-rays one by one."
Full field digital mammography (FFDM) and computed radiography (CR) based mammography systems may bring hospitals and breast imaging services closer to gaining digital mammography, but, according to a leading systems vendor, simply buying imaging equipment does not automatically lead to a more efficient workflow.
Although about 75% of biopsies are negative, the side effects of that invasive procedure, plus the length of time to results, disturbs patients. Now, however, a new technology might be able to differentiate benign and malignant tissue due to an adjunct of a normal breast ultrasound examination.
By Thomas Mertelmeier, Principal Scientist at Siemens AG Medical Solutions
Back in the 70s, when scientists first speculated on the development of 3-D ultrasound computed tomography (3-D USCT) the available technology could not equal their dreams. Now, before the end of 2007, a prototype at Germany's Karlsruhe Research Centre will be used for the first in-vivo tests.
2D imaging - whether analogue or digital - is thought to miss detection of 20-30% of breast cancers. Early clinical results from studies using the new technology tomosynthesis indicate its potential to lower those percentages.
When equally compressed, the tissue and structure of tumours and inflammations are harder than normal tissue. Hitachi explains that, taking advantage of these alterations, the sono-elastography technique conducts real-time measurements of elasticity ratios during minor pressure to the breast, using conventional ultrasound transducers.
What next? A combination of ultrasound and tomosynthesis? By Dr Ingvar Andersson
In 2002, Germany implemented an early detection programme for breast cancer. The digital Reference Centre For Mammography at the University Hospital Münster is one of five such centres in the country - and it's one of the most modern, providing digital systems for imaging and results evaluation as well as a mammo-PACS.