Confirma gears up for expansion of breast MRI

Executives at Confirma, a Kirkland, WA-based software company specializing in computer-aided detection (CAD), expect breast MRI will soon become the principal means for imaging women at high risk for breast cancer. And the company is ready.

"Thought leaders are talking about recommending breast MRI as a first modality for high-risk screening," said Meghan Mitchell, marketing manager for Confirma. "With that, the demand for breast MRI is going to increase. Since breast MRI is a very complex study, people need tools like CAD to improve efficiency and standardize interpretation. They need to save time because imaging centers often have only one reading radiologist, and they are doing many other MR studies."

Confirma has focused on the development of breast MRI software since its inception five years ago. Its core product, CADstream, automatically processes MRI studies of the breast to detect and remove cardiac artifact, correct for patient movement, and produce subtraction images, multiplanar reformatting, angiogenesis mapping, maximum intensity projections, and volume summaries.

An updated version of CADstream now in commercial release is faster and more dynamic, Mitchell said. It has more memory to hold more studies and allow for more readers. This advanced version works with CADalog, an archiving system that makes images instantly available. CADalog works with CADalyst, CADstream's network-based user interface. This interface allows radiologists to access and view a patient's prior study alongside the current one, providing on-demand study comparison. That kind of access is going to be needed, Mitchell said, and soon.

"We are seeing that people have a growing volume of breast MRI studies, so we needed to figure out solutions for that," she said. "There is a huge focus on workflow, so we have been asking how we can make an impact and improve workflow. CADalog is an answer to that."