Fujifilm’s continuing global presence
New business ventures, new systems – and those include 3-D mammography
Women's health
High volume mammo centres yield high quality research
With 350,000 mammography screenings annually, Unilabs Sweden finds itself on the leading edge for research in mammography and pioneering patient education programmes. John Brosky reports
GE invests in technology to tackle challenges in healthcare
Times may be tough, but GE Healthcare takes a longer term view, believing innovative technologies can transform healthcare delivery and help improve patient care.
Girl builds artificial ‘brain’ to detect breast cancer
An artificial “brain” built by a 17-year-old whiz kid from Florida is able to accurately assess tissue samples for signs of breast cancer, providing more confidence to a minimally invasive procedure. The cloud-based neural network took top prize in this year’s Google Science Fair.
European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2012 opened
The European Congress of Radiology (ECR), the annual meeting of the die European Society of Radiology (ESR), started on Thursday in Vienna. 20,000 visitors are expected to participate in the congress which is one of the largest healthcare events worldwide.
Finding early stage cancers that could have been missed
In Europe, 350,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer annually. About 90% of them can be cured if the cancer is detected at a very early stage. To improve early detection almost all European countries have gradually initiated regional screening programmes, even though the benefits are discussed controversially from time to time.
Tomosynthesis proves advantageous in breast imaging
Two years ago Dr Michael Michell and team at King’s College Hospital, London, set out to explore the benefits of tomosynthesis over conventional 2-D mammography. Their study has shown advantages in diagnostic accuracy and indicates that tomosynthesis could help to reduce the number of patient recalls for further examination and thus anxiety among women.
Trivialising breast cancer kills women
‘As we become more successful in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer, we tend to trivialise it. Yet one in 9 women still get breast cancer. Half of them become depressed, their partners don’t know how to react and their families are in disarray. We need to stop trivialising breast cancer. It kills women.’ So says Dr Fabienne Liebens, Head of the Saint-Pierre Hospital’s…
Breast screening in the UK
Expert warns that breast screening across the country needs to undergo a dramatic transformation over the next 15 years, Mark Nicholls reports.
3-D mammography: Utilising eye to brain characteristics
Films with vivid 3-D images draw millions to cinemas – regardless of the plot. This technology, which is based on a stereoscopic effect, is not only entertaining but also medically relevant, as demonstrated by the Amulet three-dimensional digital mammography system produced by Fujifilm.
Breast screening administration - Denmark’s web-based portal
The daily management of around 700 examinations within the national mammography screening programme keeps Dr Ilse Vejborg and her team at Rigshospitalet pretty busy. ‘We have the largest screening unit in Denmark with 200,000 women aged 50-69 years in the target group invited for an examination every second year,’ she explains.
31st German Senology Congress - More opportunities in breast diagnostics
Yes, it’s in beautiful Dresden again and -- as in 2006 when the city last hosted the Congress of the German Society for Senology -- this year’s Congress President is Professor Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland (Department of Radiology, University of Erlangen). However, the repetition ends there; the congress topics will be anything but repeated. Report: Meike Lerner
Could high coffee intake cut breast cancer risk?
Oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative breast cancer, remains hard to treat despite major advances in surgery and adjuvant therapies. The latest results from a Swedish study [Pub: Breast Cancer Res. 2011 May 14;13(3):R49] suggest that a high daily intake of coffee -- more than five cups -- is associated with a statistically significant decrease in ER-negative breast cancer among postmenopausal women…
Positron emission mammography is coming to Europe
Every medical congress is an opportunity for the manufacturers to showcase their products. This year’s congress of the German Röntgen Society was no exception -- and one innovation particularly caught the attention of our European Hospital team: positron emission mammography, PEM for short.
High hopes for elastography
Dr Bill Svensson believes that elastography has the potential to improve diagnosis of breast cancer, reduce the number of false positives in the detection of the condition and also lead to fewer biopsies performed as accuracy of imaging improves further. This June he highlighted the potential of elastography and the developments in the imaging modality at two sessions at the United Kingdom…
Article • DNA
A genomic test to predict chemotherapy outcomes
Although powerful, new, targeted treatments are regularly introduced to cancer clinics, choices for the first-line treatment of invasive breast cancer normally lie between preventive surgery and chemotherapy. A recent American study used genomic prediction combining multiple signatures to determine outcomes to standard chemotherapy.
Sectra - Confident and able to count on its photon counting technology
SECure TRAnsmission, the main aim of a spin-off from the Linköping Institute of Technology, was established in 1978. From this beginning, the Swedish firm Sectra has evolved into one of the world’s leading players in PACS and mammography solutions. Although secure communication systems remains a core business, the medical section has constantly grown since 1988, when Dr Torbjörn Kronander…
Giotto - The Italian route towards digital breast tomosynthesis
It’s digital mammography taken to the next level – or, so to speak, the next dimension as digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) that provides high resolution 3-D imaging. For about two years this exciting technology has promised to become the magic bullet in the early detection of breast cancer, particularly in the dense breast.
Towards customised treatment of breast cancer
Breast cancer can develop very differently in different women. Researchers in Norway are improving breast cancer diagnostics and treatment by identifying the various tumour types. The objective is to find out as much as possible about the various tumour types so that each patient can receive precisely the right treatment at the right time.
Real-time tissue elastography as a complementary procedure
Tissue hardness provides radiologists and gynaecologists with significant information to help distinguish between benign and malignant tumours. Tumour tissue is harder and less malleable than normal glandular and fatty tissues. Therefore, the classification of tissue hardness determines whether a biopsy is necessary. For breast diagnoses, real-time tissue elastography, along with conventional…
Understanding breast cancer functions
High resolution radionuclide imaging is a technique increasingly used to detect breast cancers and has already been shown to offer improved diagnosis in many clinical situations. The technique, which will be discussed at RSNA 2010 (28 November to 3 December, Chicago) , is also allowing clinicians to detect previously unknown areas of breast cancer in women with newly-diagnosed disease.
The Oslo Tomosynthesis Screening Trial
Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a promising new technology that acquires 3-D breast images. The individual images are presented as thin, high-resolution slices, which can be displayed individually or in a dynamic cine mode. Preliminary studies in a clinical setting have demonstrated that this new technology has the potential to improve not only the breast cancer detection but also to reduce…
Tomosynthesis sessions at RSNA 2010
It’s been around for decades, re-emerged in the ’90s and, today, experts see a bright future for tomosynthesis technology. Thus its progress and future developments, plus specialist uses (e.g. breast) will be a particular feature at the Radiological Society of North America scientific assembly and annual meeting in Chicago this year.
MRIs may lead to unnecessary breast surgery
Women could be undergoing unnecessary breast surgery as a result of having magnetic resonance imaging, says an expert on bmj.com. In the last decade, says Malcolm Kell, Consultant Surgeon and Senior Lecturer at the Eccles Breast Screening Unit at University College Dublin, MRI or magnetic resonance mammography has become the most favoured type of investigation for high risk patients when combined…
Digital mammography with contrast-enhancement
Standard mammography is the most relevant diagnostic tool to address breast cancer: It shows excellent image quality, a smooth workflow, high connectivity and a very good clinical outcome in terms of sensitivity and specificity. However, there are certain shortcomings to it, especially in dense breast tissue.