Mammography

I read Greg Freiherr's column "Why the NEJM study on CAD is wrong" on your website. Please always keep in mind the following about computer-aided detection:

Some years ago, we converted everything but mammography to PACS. It was the best move our department ever made. Recently, we finished the change by converting to digital mammography. I've had more fun at funerals.

Ziehm, BrainLab extend allianceToshiba chooses Plasmon archive for storageMatrox boosts mammo display

Doppler ultrasound breast tumor exams conducted prior to chemotherapy can reliably predict the outcome of treatment, according to research conducted in India. Most breast cancer is treated with chemotherapy prior to surgery. The traditional way to assess the success of this chemotherapy is to study tissue samples collected at surgery. In this study, researchers developed a scoring method using Doppler ultrasound to predict chemotherapy success.

Both ultrasound alone and ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of lymph nodes are reliable ways to stage invasive lobular carcinoma, a form of breast cancer occurring in only 10% to 15% of cases. Although preoperative assessment can be quite challenging with this cancer, research from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found ultrasound to be as effective for staging invasive lobular carcinoma as it is for the more common invasive ductal carcinoma.

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Medical organization nixes CT lung screeningAnalysts predict boom in breast disease managementForesight digitizes legacy scanners

Cedara turns I-ReadMammo into plug-inResearch highlights benefits of CT colonographyPatient Comfort pads MR breast biopsies

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Large-screen photographs of cotton bolls, snakeskin, cacti, and trees saddled with the overgrowth of new limbs often star in provocative lectures about early-stage breast cancer by Dr. Laszlo Tabar, a pioneer in mammography education.

Ductal carcinoma in situ often takes on an innocent guise in the mainstream media. It may be referred to as "precancerous" or "mostly harmless." Some say this common malignancy is overdiagnosed and overtreated.

The Stanford International Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT has gained such momentum in its nine-year history that the next meeting will be in a larger venue in Las Vegas. The growing importance of multislice CT is reflected in the wide range of topics presented this year.

A 10-year study of imaging volume demands on a PACS at the Medical University of South Carolina shows how significant a factor multislice CT has become in image data storage.

Naviscan PET Systems hopes to ride a building wave of interest in new breast imaging technologies with its high-resolution, small field-of-view positron system. The FDA-cleared device has obvious application as an adjunct in the diagnosis of breast cancer. But it may be able to do much more.

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FDA nod sends GE Senographe to the streetIBA settles patent battleDel Global expands exec’s dutiesPACS service model attracts new provider

Competitors to x-ray mammography may be mounting a serious challenge to the long-standing technology. Research has determined that MR and nuclear medicine can detect ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which can develop into an invasive form of breast cancer, much earlier than mammography can.

Demand for digital computer-aided detection drove a 58% increase in revenue at iCAD in the second quarter to $6.1 million and caused net loss to decrease by two-thirds to $866,000.

Radiologists may be adept at rejecting hundreds of false positives flagged by computer-aided detection software, but they also have a strong tendency to dismiss correctly identified cancers, mistakenly believing the findings are benign, according to new research.

Big-ticket items are suffering this year as reimbursement cuts resulting from the Deficit Reduction Act have had a wider and longer lasting effect than initially expected. Particularly hard hit has been PET/CT. The hybrid juggernaut had defied the odds for several years, marching forward with ever higher sales despite utilization rates at individual sites that allowed plenty of unused capacity.

The latest lung CAD software offers high sensitivity and minimizes false positives greatly. But the lack of full integration with PACS continues to stall routine clinical use in some centers.

Pending tomosynthesis platform may stem price erosion seen with Selenia

For nearly a decade, radiologists have used breast ultrasound as an adjunct to x-ray mammography to avoid unnecessary biopsies in equivocal cancer cases. Now ultrasound innovations that increase image resolution while decreasing operator dependence are reflected in a study published in the July issue of Radiology.

Hologic unveils biopsy markersCAD boosts virtual colonographyEDAP appoints medical director

Myriad Genetics is the only place to go for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation testing. The Salt Lake City biopharmaceutical company has a monopoly on the test. Its scientists discovered the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in 1996 and patented their use for assessing the risk of genetically related cancer.

Back pain and weakness of both legs had bothered this 60-year-old woman for one week. Left breast cancer, stage 2, had been diagnosed two years before, and she subsequently underwent a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

An iCAD computer-aided detection software package achieves high sensitivity with both computed radiography and full-field digital mammography, according to two new studies presented at the 2007 American Roentgen Ray Society meeting. In the same session, however, Dr. Edward Sickles warned that such positive studies may reflect optimal use and that radiologists should ensure they apply CAD software properly.

With a $6 billion dollar deal to merge with Cytyc in the wings, Hologic has struck yet another one that will cost much less. But like the Cytyc deal, it will complement Hologic’s existing portfolio of women’s healthcare products.

Hologic will soon add to the digital fever sweeping the mammography community with a new product that creates volumetric reconstructions of the breast. The company’s version of tomosynthesis technology is currently under FDA review. Chairman and CEO Jack Cumming said he expects U.S. sales of the product to begin by March 2008.

The substantial tumor contrast witnessed in 3D optical images of human breast cancer owes its visibility to the use of novel fluorescent probes. One day these probes might serve as diagnostic aids on par with those used in PET and MRI, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania who produced the 3D images using a technique called fluorescence diffuse optical tomography (FDOT).