Mammography Information System Designed To Enhance MRI Breast Imaging Workflow

Instantaneous interpretative reports and Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) data are generated with efficiency.

Confirma, Inc. (Bellevue, WA, USA), a developer of application-specific computer assisted detection (CAD) systems for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and Penrad (Minnetonka, MN, USA), a developer of mammography reporting systems, announced that the integration between CADstream for breast MRI and the Penrad MIS was first presented at the 2007 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting, held on November 25-27, in Chicago, IL, USA.

"The integration between the Penrad Mammography Information System and CADstream streamlines breast MRI reporting,” said Wayne Wager, president and CEO, Confirma. "The Penrad-CADstream integration is the first of its kind, and addresses a critical workflow need for breast imagers, which is a large segment of the breast MRI market. The ability to standardize and streamline reporting will further expand adoption of breast MRI.”

"We are looking forward to our relationship with CADstream and improving the standardization of MRI practices in breast healthcare,” stated Greg Gustafson, president of PenRad Technologies.

Demand for breast MRI studies is rapidly increasing, caused in part to recently-published clinical studies supporting breast MRI for improved breast cancer detection and the American Cancer Society's March 2007 recommendation that women with a 20-25% or greater lifetime risk of breast cancer undergo an annual MRI in addition to mammography. Confirma's developments in CAD technology help imaging programs improve the effectiveness of MRI and meet the growing demand.

CADstream for breast automates analysis, reporting, and interventional planning of studies and promotes standardization with the incorporation of the American College of Radiology's Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System (BI-RADS), which guides the breast cancer diagnostic routine and decision-making process. Confirma's next-generation version of CADstream for breast MRI, launched at the RSNA meeting, includes a new customizable BI-RADS-centric user interface that accommodates a variety of user experience levels. Additional CADstream enhancements include therapeutic monitoring capabilities, improved three-dimensional (3D) renderings and tools for morphology reporting.

CADstream is currently in use by thousands of physician users at hundreds of breast MRI programs. The July 2007 issue of the journal Radiology published research from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA, USA) and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance indicating that CAD for breast MRI may improve standardization and the analysis of benign and malignant lesions. CADstream was the CAD for breast MRI system used in this study.

PenRad develops and markets the MIS, while offering connectivity with all digital imaging manufacturers and picture archiving and communication system (PACS) vendors in the breast imaging market while continuing its commitment to provide the MIS.

Confirma develops and markets application-specific CAD systems and accessories for MRI studies.


Related Links:
Confirma
Penrad