Women's Imaging News

A study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology, showed computer-aided detection (CAD) technology improves sensitivity in breast MRI for experienced and novice readers, but does not further accuracy in general. There was also no real difference in the time it took experienced readers (9) and novice readers (11) from inferring breast MR images with or without the use of CAD. On average, a breast MRI exam can have as many as 1,000 images before and after insertion of complementary media. Since then CAD software has been developed to help radiologists read and interpret scans more effectively. The 20 radiologists completed two reading sittings two months apart to avoid any recall bias. Each session consisted of reading half of 70 cases with CAD and the other half without. Of the 70 breast MRI cases, 27 had been determined as benign, while 43 malignant. The images were purposefully chosen in order to gain a "representative real-world set of images on which to test the utility of the CAD system," said PhD, from the University of Washington and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Dr. Constance Lehman. The assortment and order of MR images were done at random again to lessen the chances of bias amongst readers. Color overlays and CAD tools were utilized at the finesse of the radiologist, while non-CAD readings incorporated visual assessment. Each radiologist was asked to classify any suspicious gash and determine the propensity of malignancy. Readers were also required to turn-in a cumulative assessment of each case as a whole, focusing on the most suspect gashes found. Lehman and peers used a modified BI-RADS scale to gauge readers’ individual analysis, in part with a five-point possibility of malignancy scale and a percentage possibility of malignancy scale. Readers’ efficiency was measured using ‘area under the receiver operator characteristics curve’ (AUC), while accuracy was contrasted by the use or non-use of CAD and the various experience levels. While comparing results, CAD was found to improve sensitivity for both experienced (AUC of 0.91 with CAD; 0.84 without CAD) and novice readers (AUC of 0.83 with CAD; 0.77 without CAD); with sensitivity impressively higher for experienced readers (p=0.01), according to the study. For diagnostic accuracy, AUC for novices was 0.77 without CAD and 0.79 with CAD. For experienced readers, AUC was 0.80 without CAD and 0.83 with CAD. And despite a gradual rise, readers felt the differences were not statistically significant. "As the use of breast MRI with CAD increases, more attention to the potential contributions of CAD to the diagnostic accuracy of MRI is needed, and additional reader studies are indicated, even if larger reader studies will be needed to detect changes and improvements in reading accuracy,” said Lehman. From the study, Lehman concluded that much needs to go toward developing educational programs on CAD to improve both overall diagnostic precision and effectiveness of breast MRI ... Read more

A recent study conducted by scientists at Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto, Canada, indicates that direct DR is more effective than CR in breast cancer detection. Both techniques have been used and there was no evidence that one technique should be more favored due to higher effectiveness or accuracy than the other. DR or digital radiography is an online system that comprises x-ray sensors that allow radiologists or technicians to read images real time as they are produced digitally and automatically shown on computer screens where they can be saved, modified or deleted. CR or computed radiography uses a cassette-based removable detector and an external reading device, which are both used to create and show the image digitally. DR has been used progressively Cancer Care Ontario since 2006, and only recently has the study shown that direct DR would have better results than CR in detecting breast cancer. Nonetheless, although DR is more widely used than screen-film mammography (SFM), their detection rates are somehow equivalent, but this statement has been proven true only for women aged 50-74. The study was primarily conducted on the results of tests screening for breast cancer in women ages 50-74. The researchers used data from the Ontario Breast Screening Program and studied the detection rates for women ages 50-74 who were screened with DR, CR and SFM between 2008 and 2009. And the results were compared with those of a 12-month follow-up with SFM results as a reference. The study included a large sample size and comparison of concurrent cohorts, which adds to the validity and reliability of the study results. While some of the shortcomings of this study include nonrandomized design, lack of data on radiologists and the fact that the findings are specific to a certain age group of women, 50-74, and so can’t be generalized to symptomatic women or those of different age groups. The lead author, Dr. Anna M. Chiarelli, PhD, senior scientist in Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario, announced the study results in a news release stating that CR was 21% less effective than DR, meaning that 10 fewer cancers would be detected per 10,000 women screened. DR and SFM showed similar cancer detection rates, while CR showed a lower rate than both. As for recall rates, using SFM as a reference, DR rates were higher and CR were lower. Dr. Chiarelli also stated that there may be several technical reasons reported by others behind the lower CR rates which include loss of spatial resolution, or sharpness, and increased image noise, or granularity. In conclusion, the study shows that although DR and SFM have equivalent effectiveness in detecting breast cancer among women ages 50-74, CR has shown a noticeable decrease in detection rate. Thus, screening programs should monitor the performance of CR separately and report their findings to the medical community. Also, women being screened should be informed of the lower cancer detection rates in order to make an informed decision regarding their screening choice with their ... Read more

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a five-year contract with Sectra to implement a new breast imaging PACS, replacing its existing film-based system. Sectra was chosen in part because it was able to meet the trust’s tight schedule of producing its first digital image by the end of March this year, said Stephen Griffiths, general manager, radiology. He added that the workflows in the Sectra system were “intuitive” and easy-to-use. The breast screening service sees 72,000 women a year, and the new system will “improve throughput and reporting times,” Griffiths said. The new PACS is being provided as a managed service, he added: “It means if we get an issue we can go back to the supplier and know we have a one-stop shop.” Barking, Havering and Redbridge is already using Sectra for its PACS, which was procured under the National PACS Programme run by NPfIT. “It is important that a new PACS could work with our current PACS provider as breast screening clients may become symptomatic patients and the images should be available to both systems,” said Griffiths. Images from other modalities, such as ultrasound or MRI, can be displayed alongside the mammograms. The new system will also allow the trust to share images with other Sectra PACS sites in the region. The trust has decided not to migrate existing film images to the new system, because the imported images would not be of diagnostic quality. The breast screening PACS was procured through the framework that NHS Supply Chain has put in place to support the PACS/RIS refresh underway in England as the national contracts come to an end. The process was straightforward and took about three months, said ... Read more

Digital direct radiography (DR) is significantly more effective than computed radiography (CR) at detecting breast cancer, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. The findings are the first to show a difference between ... Read more

According to the guidelines set by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), a benign biopsy should be followed up by routine imaging within 6 to 12 months. Such practice has been followed since it was set by the NCCN by oncologists, but a recent study has shown that maybe this guideline is subjecting patients to unnecessary financial and medical stress that won’t be beneficial to their health in general or to early detection of breast cancer. During the American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting in Chicago, on May 2, 2013, Dr. Andrea Barrio, an attending breast surgeon at Bryn Mawr Hospital, in Pennsylvania, announced the results of her recent study, that it would be more beneficial for women who had benign biopsies for breast cancer to wait at least 12 months before they had their routine mammograms. Dr. Barrio’s study included 337 women who had undergone biopsies for breast cancer with benign results. 169 women had their repeated mammograms in less than 12 months and only one breast cancer was detected, such discovery after such a short interval cost $193,000. 67 women had their mammograms after 12 months or later and no cancer was detected. 101 women had no repeated imagining. The study concluded that patients who had benign biopsies are stressed both financially and physically when they undergo short interval mammograms, and that the short interval doesn’t really make a difference in the detection of the cancer. So Dr. Barrio advised during the meeting that the NCCN guideline regarding the interval of the benign biopsy follow-up mammogram should be adjusted to a period of at least 12 months instead of the current interval of 6 to 12 months. Dr. Barrio also stated that there was less likelihood that a follow-up imaging would find breast cancer at the biopsy site of a benign needle breast biopsy so shortly after the procedure had been done on the patient. So she recommended that the doctor would wait at least 12 months before doing the follow-up mammogram because that would ensure that the results would be more accurate. She added, however, that the study didn’t mean to exclude all women from the NCCN guideline, as it would be more advisable for some women to have the short-term interval mammogram based on the ambiguity or vagueness of their initial mammogram prior to the biopsy. An expert, Dr. Laura Kruper, director of the Cooper Finkel Women's Health Center and co-director of the breast cancer program at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California, agreed with the results of Dr. Barrio’s study. However, she commented that this should be done on a selective basis based on the doctor’s opinion, as for some cases it would be necessary for the woman to undergo the mammogram shortly after the benign biopsy due to patient family history or the woman’s own opinion regarding the time she could wait before the next follow-up imaging as some people couldn’t tolerate to wait for a whole year. Although the study is still considered preliminary and is yet to be validated and published in a peer-review journal, its results make sense in terms of improving patient care and ... Read more

Young women who report having sleeping difficulties “often” in their early 20s have a 4- to 5-times increased risk of depression within 9 years, according to a new study of nearly 10,000 Australian women. “We also found that young women who reported sleeping difficulties were 12 times more likely to continue to have sleeping problems 9 years later,” Melinda Jackson, PhD, Research Fellow at Victoria University in Melbourne, told ConsultantLive. “This highlights the importance of addressing sleeping issues early on, to prevent future occurrences of sleeping problems and potentially reduce the chance of developing a mental illness. ”Persons with mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety, often have sleep complaints or abnormal sleep patterns, said Dr Jackson. “In fact, sleep problems are found in around 90% of depressed individuals.” “In an earlier study we found a strong association between difficulty with sleeping and symptoms of depression and anxiety,” she noted. “The link with depressed mood was far stronger than any association between sleep difficulties and a range of behavioral and demographic variables. ”Whether sleep disruptions actually cause subsequent depression is still an unanswered question. “There is increasing empirical evidence that tackling both depression and sleep issues simultaneously not only improves sleep during depression but also improves the chances of depression remission and decreases the chances of relapse,” said Dr Jackson. The evidence suggests that behavioral approaches to overcoming sleep difficulties are effective in the short term and more effective than pharmacological approaches in the long term. In healthy adults, sleep loss can amplify negative emotions (anger, sadness) in response to unpleasant events and lessen positive responses (happiness, joy) to pleasant events. “Laboratory studies have shown that sleep restriction of 4.5 hours per night for a week can cause people to be more sad, angry, and mentally exhausted. When the participants were allowed to have a normal amount of sleep, their mood improved dramatically,” Dr Jackson said. “We are still trying to understand exactly how poor sleep affects a person’s mood, but evidence from neuroimaging studies suggests that sleep deprivation may reduce the connectivity between our emotional brain centers (amygdala) and other brain regions (frontal lobes), making people more emotionally reactive and less able to control emotions. ”A number of Internet-based resources are available for clinicians and their patients to help improve sleep. Dr Jackson recommends directing patients to the Sleep Health Foundation Web site for information about what is helpful and unhelpful for sleep problems. The site also has a “Checklist for Health Professionals” with an information sheet on each topic listed. “Health care professionals can point out the information sheets relevant to the patient, who can then go home and access this information,” said Dr Jackson. Alternatively, individual information sheets (for example, “Ten Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep”) can be downloaded and printed by the health professional and handed to the patient. Dr Jackson’s colleague Dorothy Bruck, Professor of Psychology at Victoria University, presented the study results recently at the Australian Psychological Society’s Health Psychology ... Read more

As everybody knows by now, how frequently a woman should have a mammogram is a topic of hot debate in the U.S. In particular, women in their 40s have been troubled by recommendations almost four years ago from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that mammograms are not routinely recommended for them. Instead, the decision is an “individual one” that a woman can make, presumably in conversation with her doctor. Now, a new study has a tailored recommendation. For women in their 40s with “extremely dense breasts,” annual screening will reduce their risk of being diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer. “There is this sub-group that is higher risk and has more aggressive tumors,” said lead researcher Karla Kerlikowske, an epidemiologist and biostatistician at UCSF. “Annual mammography is probably better for that group. To date, most recommendations have relied on one risk factor: age. A woman’s risk of breast cancer increases as she gets older. But there are other risk factors, too, like breast density. About 12 to 15 percent of women in their 40s have “extremely dense breasts.” Radiologists categorize breast density on a scale of 1 to 4, and a score of 4 is “extremely dense.” But women with dense breasts are also at higher risk of false positives and may need to go through additional imaging and unnecessary biopsies. How much? The researchers report that women with extremely dense breasts have a 65.5 percent likelihood of a false positive over a ten year period. Still, “annual screening has added benefit to detect breast cancer at an earlier stage” than screening every other year, the researchers write. (As an aside: if you’re a woman in your 40s with doctor-diagnosed “extremely dense breasts,” then your risk of breast cancer matches the risk of an average woman in her 50s, according to the analysis.) In the study, published in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers looked at nearly one million women — more than 11,000 women with breast cancer and more than 900,000 without breast cancer, all of whom had mammograms. Researchers also looked at women who used hormone therapy after menopause. Hormone therapy has been shown to increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer. For women ages 50-74, even for women with dense breasts or hormone therapy use, annual screening made no difference. “They could be screened every two years and have the same benefit as being screened every year and fewer harms from mammography,” Kerlikowske said. Those harms can be common. If you’re a woman in the 50-74 group, with less dense breasts (a “2? scored by a radiologist), and do not take hormone therapy, your risk of a false positive after ten years of annual mammography is 49.8 percent. The likelihood of a false positive falls to 30.7 percent if a woman is having a mammogram every other year. In a separate study this week, researchers found that these false positives lead to “long-term psychosocial harm” for many women. It’s unlikely that recommendations will be changed based on this study. The American Cancer Society offers different recommendations than the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The ACS continues to recommend an annual mammogram for women beginning at age 40. The group’s chief medical officer, Dr. Otis Brawley says he doesn’t “see us changing right now.” But he also said he could foresee a time of targeted recommendations for women– not just for having mammograms more frequently, but less frequently, too. “I think we are moving toward a period of time,” Brawley said, “where we will identify through a bunch of questions that involve family history, age, density of breast tissue … whether one is menopausal or not menopausal, and we’re going to have a group of women who will be in their 50s, and we will tell them you ought to have a mammogram every three years.” He added there could be a group that needs mammograms annually and a very targeted group that might need to be screened even more frequently. New law takes effect April 1st The study comes just as a new law is scheduled to take effect in California. Starting April 1st, radiologists will be required to notify women if they have heterogeneously dense or extremely dense breast tissue (category 3 or 4). Radiologists already send women a report after their mammogram; they would add this information to that letter. The law passed with overwhelming support in the California legislature, but Brawley says aside from extremely dense breasts, that breast density is a subjective measure. UCSF’s Kerlikowske says she thinks the “law is ahead of the science,” because there’s no data showing that other kinds of screening tests, such as ultrasound or MRI, have any benefit for these ... Read more

Philadelphia, PA and Seattle, WA, February12, 2013(PRNewswire)- Montage Healthcare Solutions, a provider of search-driven Radiology clinical quality analytics tools, and Mammography Reporting Systems (MRS), a provider of breast imaging,procedure reporting, patient tracking and risk assessment tools, have announced a partnership that will provide Montage’s analytics tool to MRS customers, as well as enable MRS to resell the Montage Search and AnalyticsTM solution. MRS users can now utilize the Montage search-driven capability to mine the structured and unstructured clinical information stored in the MRS system. Mammography quality improvement efforts will benefit by the ability to correlate the rich mammography specific clinical data with related clinical findings. A radiologist using Montage to uncover clinical information that aids diagnosis will benefit from access to historical report information, as will clinical quality managers looking to understand the relationship between imaging protocols, clinical findings, therapy and outcomes. “Breast imaging already receives a significant clinical quality scrutiny, because of the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MSQA). Including Montage data mining and analysis, to existing MRS capabilities, provides caregivers exciting opportunities to further enhance breast imaging quality across the imaging modality spectrum,” says William Boonn, MD, President of Montage Healthcare Solutions. “We are excited to partner with MRS, an industry leader in the field of breast imaging quality management and reporting.”MRS currently provides numerous breast imaging specific reporting, quality assurance and risk management tools that help facilities meet stringent MSQA and ACR accreditation standards. “We recognized that Montage Healthcare shares the vision of not only MRS but also our customers for continuous clinical quality improvement, whether mandated or not,” says Mark P. Morris, CEO at Mammography Reporting Systems. “We feel strongly that our partnership will enable our customers to more comprehensively manage their clinical quality improvement efforts, through not only the existing MRS database reporting functions but also the sophisticated analysis tools Montage has developed.” About Montage Healthcare Solutions Montage Search and Analytics™ is a leading software solution for healthcare data mining and performance measurement in Radiology. Montage technology enables practice leaders, clinicians, researchers, and educators to search the radiology information system (RIS) and electronic medical record (EMR) for key business and clinical data. In addition, proprietary data mining techniques allow for sophisticated and customizable marketing, quality, business, and billing/coding analytics, which can measure and enhance business performance and provide clinical decision support. About Mammography Reporting Systems Mammography Reporting System (MRS) is the most widely used tracking & reporting system in the world for all breast-related procedures, including mammography, MRI, Ultrasound, and nuclear imaging. MRS is a patient-oriented system that promotes efficiency and effectiveness in any workflow by offering features such as automated patient lay letters, problem case tracking, and statistical risk models that help optimize work-flows and contribute to quality patient care.  MRS’s success is based largely on an unparalleled patient communication package and accurate calculations of statistical reports. With over 25 years in business, MRS is constantly innovating and improving its products in order to better service the needs of customers and their ... Read more

The German mammography provider Radiologie Hofheim is the first clinic in the national mammography screening program in Germany to offer women the opportunity of a health control with osteoporosis detection. The assessment of bone health is made possible by Sectra’s patented online service, Sectra OneScreen. Post-menopausal women comprise a risk group for osteoporosis, one of the most painful and costly diseases in the world. In severe cases, osteoporosis can cause fractures which, in turn, can cause great suffering and, at worst, death. “The ability to conduct a health control to identify osteoporosis means that many women can avoid unnecessary suffering. Offering this examination to women participating in the national screening program increases our service level and it may also result in major cost savings for society,” says Dr Andreas Korff at Hofheim. With Sectra’s service, patients at high risk of fracture can be identified and treatment can be initiated. Additionally, Sectra’s service helps clinics identify women who should have their bone mineral density (BMD) further investigated using a DXA scanner. About Sectra OneScreen Osteoporosis is a heavily under-diagnosed disease and a simple method for identifying patients requiring treatment is needed. The Sectra OneScreen online service is a cost-efficient solution for identifying patients at risk of osteoporosis. The service is well suited to the mammography workflow. After the four breast images included in the mammography examination, an image of the hand is acquired using the same radiology equipment. Since the woman is already standing by the modality, this adds no more than 30 seconds to the examination time. With the standard X-ray image of the hand, the women’s bone health (Bone Mineral Density, BMD) is analyzed using Sectra’s online service. Clinics in Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, France and the UK have introduced Sectra OneScreen into their mammography programs. Benefits women, mammography clinics and society The benefits of using Sectra’s online service to identify patients at risk of osteoporosis include: •    Allowing women to assess and take control of their bone health, thereby avoiding fractures and unnecessary suffering. •    Identification of women at high risk of fractures, meaning that treatment or further investigation using DXA scanning can be initiated. •    The woman only needs to visit once for two examinations. •    Seamless integration into the regular mammography workflow. Possibility of combining two examinations in one visit, adding only 30 seconds per woman. •    No radiologist time needed. The procedure is based on FDA and CE-approved automatic image analysis done “in the cloud” while preserving patient integrity. •    No need for new hardware – no major initial investment. Can be used with all major digital mammography devices. •    Improvement of the bottom line for clinics and hospitals by doing more on the same visit. Also generates new and more patients for existing DXA systems. •    Reduction in healthcare costs for insurance companies and society. About osteoporosis •    Some 200 million people are estimated to suffer from osteoporosis. •    The disease is caused by an imbalance in the remodeling of the skeleton, which in turn can be caused, for example, by an unhealthy lifestyle, genetic factors or drugs used to treat other diseases. •    Nine million osteoporosis-related fractures, primarily radio carpal, hip and vertebra fractures occur annually. •    Affects one in three women, and one in five men, over the age of 50. •    One of the diseases that causes the highest economic burden for healthcare. Source: International Osteoporosis Foundation http://www.iofbonehealth.org/ For further information, please contact: Dr. Torbjörn Kronander, CEO and President, Sectra AB, 46 705 23 52 27 Marie Ekström, Executive Vice President, Sectra Medical Systems, 46 (0)708 23 56 10 Pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/sectramedicalsystems Press room: www.sectra.com/medical/press About Sectra Sectra develops and sells IT systems and services for radiology, women’s health, orthopaedics and rheumatology. More than 1,400 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers worldwide use the systems daily, together performing over 70 million radiology examinations annually. This makes Sectra one of the world-leading companies within systems for handling digital radiology images. In Scandinavia, Sectra is the market leader with more than 50% of all film-free installations. Sectra’s systems have been installed in North America, Scandinavia and most major countries in Europe and the Far East. Sectra was founded in 1978 and has its roots in Linköping University in Sweden. The company’s business operation includes cutting-edge products and services within the niche segments of medical systems and secure communication systems. Sectra has offices in 12 countries and operates through partners worldwide. Sales in the 2011/2012 fiscal year totaled SEK 823 million. The Sectra share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB exchange. For more information, visit ... Read more

MAMMOMAT Inspiration Prime Edition features new software correcting scattered radiation Siemens Healthcare has unveiled the MAMMOMAT® Inspiration Prime Edition, a forthcoming evolution in the MAMMOMAT family, at the 98th Congress of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2012. The MAMMOMAT Inspiration Prime Edition lowers dose by replacing the standard scatter radiation grid with a new algorithm for progressive image reconstruction. The algorithm identifies scatter-causing structures and calculates a corrected image, enabling clinicians to achieve high-quality images with up to 30% less dose. The development of products like the digital full-field MAMMOMAT Inspiration is a goal of the Siemens Healthcare Sector’s global ‘Agenda 2013’ initiative. In digital X-ray breast imaging, dose passes through the examined breast to a detector. Primary radiation supplies the information needed to produce the X-ray image, while scattered radiation is absorbed by special grids positioned between the breast and the detector. Unfortunately, these scatter grids also absorb part of the all-important primary radiation, forcing clinicians to use a higher dose to obtain images of desired quality. Since mammography means regular screening of healthy women, minimising dose is extremely important. Siemens Healthcare’s new reconstruction algorithm for the MAMMOMAT Inspiration system – known as Prime (Progressive Reconstruction, Intelligently Minimising Exposure) – eliminates the need for the conventional scatter radiation grid. The Prime algorithm subsequently corrects the scattered radiation by identifying scatter-causing structures and recalculating the image. The primary radiation that radiologists rely upon remains intact. Therefore, a grid is no longer necessary, and lower doses are sufficient to produce high-quality images. The grid-free imaging technology of the MAMMOMAT Inspiration Prime Edition offers reduced dose compared to the MAMMOMAT Inspiration, depending on the thickness of the patient’s breast tissue. Lynn Blackburn, Business Manager for Mammography, Surgery and Urology at Siemens Healthcare, states, “This evolution in mammography technology is an exciting development for the field and we look forward to bringing it to the UK marketplace. Currently, nearly two million women are screened annually with some 15,000 cancers detected so it is of huge importance that we can make quantifiable dose savings but still maintain excellent image quality.” Available in 2013, the MAMMOMAT Inspiration Prime Edition is based on the modular MAMMOMAT Inspiration platform for screening, diagnostics, biopsy, and tomosynthesis used by hospitals and clinicians since 2007. Hospitals and clinics have the option of purchasing the basic equipment, upgrading biopsy or tomosynthesis later as the need arises. The products mentioned here are not commercially available in all countries. Due to regulatory reasons the future availability in any country cannot be guaranteed. Further details are available from the local Siemens organizations. Agenda 2013 is a global initiative to further strengthen Healthcare Sector's innovative power and competitiveness. Four fields of action have been defined: Innovation, Competitiveness, Regional Footprint, and People Development, with specific measures to be implemented over the next two years. About Siemens Healthcare The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source – from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimising clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 51,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. For further information please visit: http://www.siemens.co.uk/healthcare For more information or images please contact: Marc Gossage / Jon WilcoxMedia SafariT: 01225 471202E: jonw@mediasafari.co.uk Siemens HealthcareLaura BennettT: 01276 696374E: laura.bennett@siemens.comW: ... Read more

SensorySuite enables physicians to address low mammography compliance rates and provide higher level of patient care and satisfaction CHICAGO — November 27, 2012 — GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) today announced the commercial availability of its SensorySuite for mammography at RSNA 2012. Designed to divert a woman’s attention away from the discomfort, anxiety and intimidation associated with mammography screenings, the SensorySuite helps improve patients experience by providing a customized environment involving sight, smell and hearing during a mammography examination. “Compliance rates for yearly mammograms have long been an issue. In fact, one in every four women avoid mammograms because of worry and fear[1], and less than 70% of women in the U.S. 40 and older have had a mammogram in the last two years[2],” said Prahlad Singh, General Manager, Women’s Healthcare, GE Healthcare. “With the SensorySuite, GE aims to reduce perceived patient anxiety by giving them control over their mammography experience. This improved experience is another testimonial of GE’s commitment to fight breast cancer by encouraging early detection." SensorySuite for mammography was developed based on several studies showing why women avoid yearly mammograms as well as insights from the GE: For Women by Women project that invited designers, patients, students and thought leaders to brainstorm new and inventive approaches to mammography. The SensorySuite provides an all-encompassing experience for women undergoing mammograms and also offers a differentiating mammography experience for healthcare facilities, helping them to provide higher levels of patient satisfaction. The SensorySuite process begins in the patient’s home, where an interactive online presentation posted in the facility’s web site presents the SensorySuite experience to the woman. The patient next explores the SensorySuite in the hospital waiting room via a tablet PC and scented bookmark bracelets related to the seaside, garden or waterfall environments. Finally, in the exam suite, the patient uses the in-room tablet PC to choose the ambiance she wants to be transported to. The patient enjoys the decorative wall panels depicting the available ambiances, a slide show of the chosen ambiance on a flat-screen monitor, a soothing video displayed on a second flat screen monitor emitting ambient sounds of the selected environment and a light, calming fragrance throughout the room via a scent diffuser. The SensorySuite is installed and maintained by GE field engineers, and accompanying consumables can be purchased through GE sales representatives. The SensorySuite can be installed in a customer’s current facility equipped with GE systems or can be purchased with new GE mammography equipment. “Healthcare is very personal. This is certainly true in Mammography. SensorySuite is a great example of the intersection of technology and the human side of healthcare. We are confident that women around the world who experience SensorySuite will see that GE not only strives to develop great technology, but that we also aim to develop solutions that approach every element of the care continuum with empathy, feeling and respect. Our hope is that through this solution we are taking some of the anxiety out of a traditional mammogram, and enabling women everywhere to take more control of their exam process,” said Hooman Hakami, president and CEO, Detection & Guidance Solutions (DGS), GE Healthcare. * Trademark of General Electric Company. GE Healthcare at RSNA 2012 Each year in Chicago, the conference of the Radiological Association of North America (RSNA) provides a forum for showcasing the latest innovations in medical imaging. If you are attending the conference, please visit GE Healthcare at booth number 5433 in McCormick Place south hall. Throughout the week of the event, GE Healthcare will distribute news and information using these digital platforms:• Digital press kit: newsroom.gehealthcare.com/press-kits/ge-healthcare-at-rsna-2012• Twitter: @GEHealthcare and hashtag #GEWorks• YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/gehealthcare• Flickr: www.flickr.com/people/gehealthcare• Instagram: instagram.com/generalelectric ________________________________________ [1] Two distinct groups of non-attenders in an organized mammography screening program, Arja R Aro, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 70: 145-153, 2001 [2] According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Contact InformationNamePilar Anton SerranoDivisionGE HealthcarePhone+33 1 30 70 99 90Mobile+33 6 65 87 47 51Emailpilar.antonserrano@ge.com About GE Healthcare GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems. Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.  For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com. For our latest news, please visit ... Read more

Seattle, WA, September 10, 2012 – MRS, leader in tracking and reporting for breast-related procedures, expands its breast health software portfolio with the Compass computer-aided analysis software application for improved efficiency and economics in breast MRI. Compass, now used by an ever-growing number of breast imaging programs nationwide, delivers real-time visualization and flexibility providing radiologists with the time-sensitive information needed to maximize productivity when interpreting and reporting complex studies. With Compass, upgrades and award-winning product support are included. "Prior to integrating Compass, our facility was using a another system for analysis and visualization of breast MRI studies that was expensive and lacked comprehensive customer support,” said Larry Herbert, MD, Billings Clinic in Billings, MT. “Compass delivers all the essential features we need to efficiently and economically get through these complex studies.  Compass is accompanied by exceptional customer support." Compass Delivers:    A software only solution with all the computer-aided analysis features     Enhanced workflow with studies ready to read in seconds     A reliable way to process all of your studies – no "failures to process"     An easy to use, intuitive user interface which requires no on-site "super user"     Real-time, dynamic threshold setting and peak series adjustment that allows for no downtime while study is reprocessed     Easy installation; Compass software can be loaded on any PC meeting minimum specifications As a cost-effective computer-aided analysis breast MRI application, Compass features include image registration, subtractions, multiplanar reformatting, MIPs, Angiogenesis Maps and curves, volume analysis and customizable hanging layouts. Learn more about Compass at www.compassforbreastmri.com. “We are pleased to add Compass for breast MRI to MRS’ available line of breast health software solutions. Compass allows our customers to economically enhance their patient management workflow,” said Mark Morris, President and CEO, MRS. “Compass was designed to address a need in the market for a breast MRI analysis application that offers flexibility and the desired features at an appealing price point.” About MRS With over 25 years in business, MRS has earned the trust of the radiology community. MRS works side by side with radiologists, technologists, administrators, and medical transcriptionists to ensure their programs continue to meet and exceed the needs of breast care facilities, large and small. MRS systems deliver proven performance in academic, fixed-site, remote-site, and mobile mammography settings. Learn more about MRS at www.mrsys.com. Media Contact: Adam Furukawa ... Read more