At this year’s MD&M East Conference and Exposition in NYC, Medical Design Technology’s Editor-in-Chief Sean Fenske stopped by Farm’s booth to learn more about Hologic’s Selenia Dimensions (3-D) Digital Mammography Tomosynthesis System, winner of a 2011 Medical Design Excellence Award.
Tomosynthesis has been talked about for many years but didn’t become commercially viable to produce until Hologic introduced the Selenia Dimensions (3-D) Digital Mammography Tomosynthesis System. This is the first commercially available breast tomosynthesis system in the world based on years of research and development as well as input from users. Previous technologies took more than an hour of heavy-duty compression processing to get one image reconstructed, and now it takes a matter of seconds. The Selenia Dimensions system gives radiologists the ability to identify and characterize individual breast structures and reveal the inner architecture of the breast, free from the distortion typically caused by tissue shadowing or density.
During a tomosynthesis mammography scan, multiple low-dose images of the breast are acquired at different angles. These images are then used to produce a series of one-millimeter-thick slices that can be viewed as a three-dimensional reconstruction of the breast. Instead of viewing all tissue complexities on a traditional 2-D mammogram, the radiologist can now scroll through the layers of the breast. This allows the radiologist to see around features in the tissue and identify areas of concern that may have been hidden by overlapping tissue or dismiss normal areas that may have appeared suspicious on a 2-D digital mammogram. As a result, recalls may be reduced, unnecessary biopsies may be eliminated, and breast cancers may be identified earlier.
According to the American Cancer Society “Breast Cancer Facts and Figures 2009-2010,” one woman in eight in the U.S. is diagnosed with some form of breast cancer during her lifetime, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Breast cancer is responsible for over 40,000 deaths each year in the U.S., making 3-D digital mammography tomosynthesis the ideal choice for detecting breast cancer.
In this video interview, Hologic’s Nikos Gkanatsios provides insight into tomosynthesis technology and the development of the Selenia Dimensions system. Farm’s Darrin Manke discusses Farm’s involvement in the product development effort and how Farm assisted Hologic in the industrial design, human factors engineering, and user interface of the device.
