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."
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.
In Ireland, breast cancer is particularly virulent: 18.5% of all cancer related deaths among the women are due to breast cancer.
Congress President Professor Juergen Dunst MD praises major advances and multidisciplinary efforts, and outlines future hopes for breast cancer patients
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.
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.
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
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.
This year´s congress of the German Society of Senology (June 21.-23. in Lübeck, Germany) will deal with latest developments in the diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer like screening and early detection methods or new diagnostic modalities.
The Swedish IT and medical-technology company Sectra, together with clinical and industrial partners from six European countries, has been awarded EUR 3.6 million from the European Union to combat breast cancer through a research project for high-resolution, low-dose X-ray imaging.
The use of computer-aided detection (CAD) with computed radiography (CR) is very effective in the detection of breast cancer according to a recent study at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, DEC and iCAD in Nashua, NH.
Approximately 75 percent of all biopsies are negative, which is of course the good news. But looking at the side effects of this invasive method combined with a long waiting time for the results, a biopsy is nevertheless an unpleasant procedure for the women affected. A new promising technology now offers the possibility to differentiate benign and malignant tissue due to an adjunct of the…
The first highlight is the expansion of IMPAX 6, the globally successful web-based PACS for diagnostic mammography.
Targeted medication and gentle surgical procedures are the pillars of modern breast cancer therapy, according to participants at this years German Congress of Senology.
A report by Keith Halson, our correspondent in France.
Guidelines updated for high-risk women aged between 20-49 years.
At RSNA, Agfa HealthCare introduced a range of functional extensions for digital mammography reading and reporting applications on its industry leading IMPAX™ PACS platform. The company launched IMPAX 6.2 integrated with CAD and MRS® Reporting as well as showing a work-in-progress of a new software application that addresses the growing need for digital mammography screening.
An unparalleled legal challenge has been underway in the EU regarding the number of human gene patents held by US-based corporation Myriad Genetics.
USA - Radiologists at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts have released findings from a breast cancer research study designed to evaluate the use of software from Advanced Image Enhancement, Inc (AIE) for examining regions of interest (ROI) with Hologic's Lorad Selenia digital mammography system.
