Mammography

Hormone replacement therapy, previous breast surgery, and a low body mass index may reduce the accuracy of screening mammography, according to a study in the August issue of the British Medical Journal.

Philips cuts deal with healthcare enterpriseMarietta Memorial Hospital and Philips have struck a multiyear strategic agreement to bring advanced medical technology, clinical support, and staff education to the southeastern region of Ohio. Marietta and Philips have worked together for more than 10 years to outfit Marietta’s Cancer Center with digital x-ray and CT simulator systems.

Just like double-checking a grocery receipt to make sure you haven’t been overcharged, researchers suggest attention be paid to x-ray stereotactic biopsy cores to ensure they contain previously targeted calcifications. Cores obtained without such calcifications have a higher chance of missing malignant lesions.

Computed radiography for mammography cannot yet be sold in the U.S., but mammographers elsewhere in the world have been able to buy it from Agfa Healthcare. Many of those who bought this technology, called the Embrace CR (1A), probably wish they hadn’t.

Mammo display receives clearance for marketThe U.S. market will soon have a new flat-panel display for mammography. Barco has received FDA clearance to begin marketing its Coronis 5MP Mammo product. The clearance comes just weeks after the FDA passed Barco’s CRT-based MGD 521M mammography display.

The FDA issued on July 13 a 510(k) clearance to Totoku Electric for its ME511L, a 5-megapixel monochrome digital mammography LCD monitor. SCAN incorrectly stated that the clearance was obtained by U.S. Electronics, a distributor of Totoku monitors in the

Fuji Medical Systemes France has placed its first order for Barco's new Coronis 5MP Mammo, a 5-megapixel flat-panel display system for digital mammography. The order, announced Aug. 19, came immediately after the official product launch in May, according

Another vendor is ready to enter the market for digital mammography. Siemens Medical Solutions obtained FDA approval Aug. 20 for its Mammomat Novation DR full-field digital mammography system.Siemens is the fourth vendor to offer such a product in the

Mammography has always been held to a higher level of diagnostic quality than garden variety imaging devices. So when full-field digital mammography came to market, the entire system-from the detector to the acquisition workstation and display

The FDA has issued an approvable letter for Siemens Mammomat NovationDR, a full-field digital mammography system. The agency found that the device is approvable, pending successful FDA inspection of Siemens' manufacturing facility in Erlangen, Germany,

Storage and database firm i3Archive has adopted third-generation standards for grid computing that will help the company integrate its National Digital Mammography Archive (NDMA) with other databases. The standards, which include Open Grid Services

Population-based breast screening programs face an uphill battle in remote communities. Patients, technologists, prior exam results, new images, and qualified reporters must all meet at the right place at the right time. Organizers of a Dutch mammography

Digital mammography provides a springboard from which new imaging techniques are developed to address current limitations in the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer."The presence of the increased quantitative quality of the data acquired in these

The FDA has approved a version of R2 Technology's ImageChecker CAD technology customized for use on Hologic's Selenia full-field digital mammography system. The approval finalizes the commitment by the two companies to merge their technologies under the

Systems offer screening, diagnosis, interventionWorkload and budgetary pressures are common in breast imaging. Little wonder mammography vendors emphasize the efficiency gains and ergonomic benefits of their digital systems.Both GE

Digital mammography unit shoots for year's end Eastman Kodak's Health Imaging Group is walking a tightrope: It needs to respond to an increasingly digital marketplace while still satisfying customers wedded to film. Its high-wire

Digital mammography's replacement of screen-film has become inevitable now that head-to-head comparisons of the systems are showing little difference in performance. The sticking point now lies with the radiologists reading soft-copy mammograms, not with

Popularity of PET, digital mammography boosts product salesGood news for the quarter past and a promising outlook for CTI Molecular Imaging and Hologic gave the industry reassurance that two bellwethers of technological

R2 Technology and Swedish IT and medical technology company Sectra Imtec are customizing R2's computer-aided detection technology for use with the Sectra MicroDose digital mammography system. The focus of the agreement is R2's ImageChecker CAD

R2 Technology's proprietary mammography CAD has been approved by the FDA for sale with Fischer Imaging's SenoScan TrueView digital mammography system. Fischer plans to integrate R2's ImageChecker technology with SenoScan to support CAD analysis of

Digital system tries to crack European marketSwedish IT and medical technology company Sectra is increasing its stake in the digital mammography market. Sectra is investing $11.6 million into Stockholm-based Mamea Imaging,

Computer-aided detection, initially restricted to mammography, is entering the functional imaging arena. CTI Molecular Imaging is showcasing CAD technology during the RSNA meeting on its Reveal PET/CT scanners, as well as the Reveal MVS PET/CT workstation. Under a recently inked exclusive agreement with R2 Technology, CTI has begun offering the first commercially available CAD system for multidetector CT examinations of the chest.

R2 Technology has unveiled at the RSNA meeting a robust version of computer-aided detection technology programmed to find colon polyps. The company plans to take this latest iteration of CAD, first shown at the 2002 RSNA meeting, to the FDA in next year.

R2 Technology has introduced at the RSNA meeting its new dual-mode ImageChecker, a single computer-aided detection unit that can process analog and digital mammography images simultaneously.

The FDA has cleared for marketing three computer-assisted detection technologies developed by iCAD: iDM, which works with Fischer Imaging's SenoScan full-field digital mammography system; iAD, a full-featured stand-alone unit, and iQ, a low-cost

The FDA has approved the use of CADX Systems' Second Look Digital computer-aided detection system as an integral part of Fischer Imaging's SenoScan TrueView full-field digital mammography system. The agency had approved the two systems previously for

CADx Systems has received approval from the FDA for its Second Look Digital and Second Look AD computer-aided detection systems. The approval paves the way for the technologies to be integrated with GE's Senographe 2000D full-field digital mammography

A deal announced July 31 between women's health equipment vendor Hologic and R2 Technology calls for the integration of the CAD pioneer's ImageChecker into Hologic's Lorad Selenia full-field digital mammography system. The agreement grants Hologic

By Greg Freiherr, Editor, gfreiherr@cmp.comWe tend to look at technology as a problem solver. And in many instances it is. Faster, cheaper, better solutions are natural