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News Release
HOSPITAL'S NEW SYSTEM ADVANCES BREAST CANCER DETECTION March 20, 2007 — A state-of-the-art imaging system is advancing UPMC Northwest’s ability to diagnose breast cancer and other breast diseases.
The hospital’s R2 Technology ImageChecker System makes mammography exams more thorough than ever, according to radiologist and Imaging Department chairman Mark Salerno, MD. ImageChecker uses breakthrough technology known as computer-aided detection (CAD) to assist UPMC Northwest’s six board-certified radiologists in evaluating breast images for evidence of abnormality. The ImageChecker’s sophisticated software technology marks specific areas of a mammography image that should get radiologists’ closest attention, increasing the likelihood of finding a tumor or other sign of disease. The ImageChecker system is so sensitive that it marks everything of even a remotely suspicious nature – any inconsistency in tissue contrast, uniformity, size or shape, for example – so radiologists don’t overlook anything that deserves a closer look. “Computer-aided detection can’t replace radiologists but it can help them find things the human eye might have difficulty distinguishing,” says Imaging Services manager Dawn Cherry, RT(R). Imaging staff members run the ImageChecker’s computerized double-check on every one of about 10,000 screening and diagnostic mammograms that UPMC Northwest performs every year, according to Mrs. Cherry, who says the new technology greatly aids radiologists in evaluating breast images. “It allows us to do two readings on every mammogram, one without and one with the help of the computer,” she says. “It can confirm what the radiologist finds or bring to the doctor’s attention something that should get a second look.” Either way, Dr. Salerno says, women can be certain the mammograms they undergo at UPMC Northwest are getting a closer inspection than ever. “There’s no question that this (the ImageChecker) increases cancer detection rates and that we find more breast cancer with it than without it,” Dr. Salerno says. “It helps detect more cancers and detects them earlier, and improves survival rates of breast cancer patients.” Breast cancer is the second most common malignancy in women behind lung cancer: every year about 216,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer and it causes about 40,000 deaths. But thanks to several factors including public education and awareness, screening mammography, improved treatment techniques, and advances like the ImageChecker, more cases are being diagnosed here and across the country in earlier, more treatable stages, and long-term survival rates are increasing. ImageChecker is part of UPMC Northwest’s Food and Drug Administration-accredited mammography program that also features 11 certified mammography technologists. The new breast imaging technology isn’t UPMC Northwest’s only diagnostic system that uses computer-aided detection. The hospital laboratory’s Cytyc ThinPrep Imaging System also performs a computerized double-check on every Pap exam, helping cytotechnologists and pathologists conduct a more thorough, accurate evaluation of cervical cells.
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