Carestream Health's authorised distributor for Latvia, NMS Grupa, has reported an order for a Carestream Health digital mammography screening solution for the Mediciniska firma Dziednieciba (MFD Healthcare Group) in Riga, Latvia. The installation will consist of a KODAK DIRECTVIEW Classic CR System with Mammography Feature, high-resolution mammography workstation and the KODAK Digital Mammography CAD System, a highly advanced tool to assist in the early detection of breast cancer.
"Mammography screening is a national priority for Latvia. As a nation we have too many cancers that are not diagnosed in the first or second stages and the Government is planning to significantly expand our national screening programme," said Mr Aleksandrs Tocilenko, Director of the Radiology Department, MFD Healthcare Group. "We are moving towards an all-digital workflow and the solution provided by Carestream Health was the preferred choice of our radiologists as the quality of images is excellent. Also, we can capture mammography and general radiography exams with the one CR platform for greater efficiency. Initially we expect to manage approx. 4,000 annual exams."
MFD is the first hospital in Latvia to use computer aided detection (CAD) to assist with reading mammography exams. There is a shortage of radiologists in Latvia so a digital second review facilitated by CAD will support the reading process and offer radiologists the chance to go back to suspicious areas and double check.
"A digital second opinion will be highly useful, particularly as we are short of the necessary number of radiologists here in Latvia, said Mr Aleksandrs Tocilenko. In addition, the CAD will fully integrate with the CR and mammography workstation to deliver improved workflow, productivity and patient throughput."
Mammography CAD can detect densities (masses), architectural distortion and clusters of micro calcifications on imaging exams so radiologists can closely examine these regions for possible disease during a second review. Computer-aided detection software uses a series of sophisticated algorithms, powerful image processing and pattern recognition technology to identify and rank all suspicious areas in a mammogram. The KODAK Digital Mammography CAD System processes the images and generates a CAD report, which is sent to the mammography workstation. This report consists of a small file that provides information about where suspicious areas are located, the type of cancers detected and the position of those cancers. All this information can be matched with the images acquired, so the CAD mats overlay the images and show the possible location of the cancers.
Carestream Health, an independent company, has licensed the Kodak brand for use with its own brands - such as CARESTREAM, DIRECTVIEW and DRYVIEW - across its portfolio of leading-edge medical imaging and healthcare IT products.
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About Carestream Health, Inc.
Carestream Health, Inc., is a leading provider of dental and medical imaging systems and healthcare IT solutions; molecular imaging systems for the life science research and drug discovery/development market segments; and x-ray film and digital x-ray products for the non-destructive testing market. The company was formed in 2007 when Onex Corporation (TSX: OCX.TO) purchased Eastman Kodak Companys Health Group. For more information about Carestream Health, contact your Carestream Health representative or visit www.carestreamhealth.com.