Now all women receiving mammograms at St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon will benefit from the new R2 CAD technology. CAD (computer-aided detection) is used by an increasing number of radiologists as a second pair of eyes when reading mammograms. CAD is sophisticated software that analyzes films from screening mammography to identify areas that contain the slightest abnormal or suspicious features and marks them for a radiologist to review.
“CAD has great potential because it provides us with additional information about images that have characteristics generally associated with breast cancer,” says St. John’s Hospital-Lebanon Director of Radiology Barbara Groves. “With CAD, every woman who receives a screening mammogram at St. John’s-Lebanon will now benefit from a ‘second look.’”
Clinical trials demonstrated that use of the new system can result in earlier detection of up to 23.4% of cancers currently detected with screening mammography. CAD has received broad support from the American College of Radiology, the American Cancer Society and patient advocacy groups.
“While the majority of breast cancers will be detected by mammography, some may be missed due to differences in the appearance of breast tissue, breast cancer feature and tumor growth rates,” adds Groves. “CAD can help by identifying areas that may not have been initially spotted by the radiologist, which could lead to the earlier detection of a cancer.”
Using a software program specifically designed to identify clusters of bright spots that are suggestive of micro calcifications and patterns suggestive of tissue masses or distortions, CAD is a technology used after a mammographic film has been generated. The films are loaded into the CAD computer system and processed to identify and mark regions that have characteristics of cancer. The display files are transmitted and stored in a file server in the mammography viewer for a radiologist to review. The radiologist examines the CAD output and the original mammogram to make his or her final interpretation.
St. John’s-Lebanon uses a CAD system called the ImageChecker developed by R2 Technology Inc., based in Los Altos, Calif. R2 Technology was the first commercial company in the United States to obtain FDA clearance for CAD applications for mammography.
To make an appointment for a mammogram with St. John’s-Lebanon, call 417-533-6094.
