'Not only is this critical for women’s peace of mind, but an objective, volumetric density measurement may also enable us to implement a tailored screening program based on a woman’s individual risk and need,' said Jerome S. Schroeder, MD, ESJH.
Las Vegas (PRWEB) March 17, 2014
Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital (ESJH) in Denver became the first in Colorado to offer VolparaDensity™ breast imaging software to help overcome the limitations of mammography to detect cancer in women with dense breasts. ESJH is also the first site to adopt VolparaAnalytics™ from the company’s suite of quantitative breast imaging tools, designed to provide actionable intelligence to help maintain accuracy and consistent quality in breast screening. The announcement was made here at the National Consortium of Breast Centers’ (NCoBC) 24th Annual National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference.
Located in the heart of downtown Denver, The Saint Joseph Breast Care Center carries American College of Radiology (ACR) Breast Imaging Center of Excellence designation and is also part of the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers and a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Certified Mammography Facility. The Volpara Solutions installation at Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital provides the ability to offer objective breast density values and volumetric performance metrics for all 8,000+ mammograms performed annually on two Hologic mammography systems covering the ambulatory breast center as well as the Mobile Mammography Coach which travels throughout the Denver Metro area as well as northern Colorado and various mountain communities.
“At the Breast Care Center, it is very important that we offer the best breast screening and imaging technologies to maintain the ability to detect breast cancer as early as possible. The addition of VolparaDensity enables us to thoroughly and accurately assess breast density, particularly among women for whom mammography alone may not be enough. Not only is this critical for women’s peace of mind, but an objective, volumetric measurement may also enable us to develop and implement a tailored screening program based on a woman’s individual risk and need,” said Jerome S. Schroeder, MD, Director of Breast Imaging, Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital Breast Care Center.
Breast density has not only been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, it also decreases the sensitivity of the mammogram and thereby may impact early detection. Thirty-five percent of breast cancer goes undetected by mammography in women with dense breasts, as density masks the appearance of tumors (Boyd et al 2007, NEJM). Since dense breast tissue and cancer appear white on a mammogram, finding cancers can be analogous to looking for a snowball in a snow storm.
Cleared by the FDA, HealthCanada, the TGA and CE-marked, VolparaDensity is used by radiologists to objectively assess density from both digital mammography and tomosynthesis images and help evaluate who might benefit from additional screening. Highly correlated to breast MR assessments, VolparaDensity is a reliable tool which automatically generates an objective, automatic measurement of volumetric breast density and a FDA cleared BI-RADS breast density category. To date, more than two million women have had their volumetric breast density analyzed using VolparaDensity. The software is part of a suite of quantitative breast imaging tools built on the Volpara algorithm which enables the generation of volumetric measurements of density, patient specific dose, breast compression and other factors that are designed to help maintain accuracy and consistent quality in breast screening.
“There is no question that our ability to provide the highest quality breast health care is a combination of having a highly trained, dedicated staff of physicians and technologists, state of the art imaging technology, and the confidence that we are providing accurate and consistent breast imaging to the patients we serve,” said Joanne Vermeulen, Director of the Breast Care & Surgical Centers at the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital. “Working in concert with objective volumetric breast density, VolparaAnalytics gives us actionable data that we can use to maintain quality and consistent patient care, as well as improve our workflow and productivity.”
VolparaAnalytics assists in quality assurance by monitoring critical elements of the breast imaging process and generating key metrics to help understand the performance of technologists, readers, and mammography and tomosynthesis machines. For each image received, VolparaAnalytics automatically extracts information about the x-ray physics parameters used and computes various novel metrics from that data, including volumetric breast density and pressure. This comparative information can help determine whether additional training or re-calibration is required.
“We are very excited to work with the experienced team at Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital to not only provide objective breast density measures but additional volumetric breast imaging data and analytics to help maintain accuracy and consistent breast imaging quality,” said Ralph Highnam, PhD, CEO of Volpara Solutions.
About Exempla St Joseph Hospital
Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital (ESJH) was founded in Denver in 1873 by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth as the first private hospital in Colorado. Today, it continues as the largest private, teaching hospital in Denver. The hospital provides a tradition of health care that includes compassionate caregivers, stellar clinical expertise and an active partnership with physicians from the Colorado Permanente Medical Group as well as community physicians. For more information, visit http://exemplasaintjoseph.org/.
About VolparaSolutions
Founded to enable radiologists to give women the most accurate information possible regarding their breast health, VolparaSolutions is the wholly owned sales and marketing arm of Matakina Technology Limited of New Zealand. Volpara’s founders and Board of Directors includes John Hood, PhD, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, UK; Ralph Highnam, PhD, former CEO of Mirada Solutions, one of the University of Oxford’s most successful spin-outs of recent times and co-author of the seminal book Mammographic Image Analysis; and Professor Sir Michael Brady, a serial entrepreneur who recently retired from the University of Oxford where he was Professor of Information Technology for 25 years.
# # #
Media Contacts:
Chris K. Joseph
Volpara Solutions
510/435-4031
chris.joseph(at)volparasolutions(dot)com
Megan Mahncke
Exempla St Joseph Hospital
303-917-8725
Megan.Mahncke(at)sclhs(dot)net