DBT and Cloud-Based Services: More Opportunities for Improvement.

The fewer recalls a patient receives, the better. Radiologists are not big fans of recalls either, so any tool or technique aimed at preventing them from happening is very valuable to healthcare providers. Recently, it was found that digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and synthetic mammography (SM) paired together can help prevent the occurrence of recalls.

For years, 3-D mammography (DBT) has been recognized as the go-to technology for more accurate breast imaging. With the inclusion of synthetic mammography, which uses automated breast density measurement software and is what patients with dense breasts count on for more accurate imaging, healthcare providers can double down for even greater accuracy.

Researchers in Norway, realizing that there was scant information regarding the use of both technologies together, embarked on a study of their own, selecting nearly 30,000 patients for randomized trials. Almost half of them underwent a DBT and SM exam while the others were examined via traditional digital mammography technology alone.

“DBT is more responsive to volumetric density, where tumors, benign lesions, and normal structures are better visualized compared with DM,” said one of the researchers, according to an article in Diagnostic Imaging. “Our findings might also indicate that automated software for DBT+SM provides a tool for more discriminatory evaluation of the breast cancer risk and potential risk-stratified screening practices, as women with dense breasts might be recommended to undergo additional screening techniques and more frequent screening based on the results from DBT+SM.”

Furthermore, researchers believe that utilizing the modalities together could be what solves the shortcomings of morphologic-only imaging that DBT alone can sometimes be prone to.

Better Mammography Viewing

While combinations of technologies continue to evolve to enhance patient care and the accuracy of examinations, cloud-based radiology solutions are also being pursued for better viewing opportunities.

At OffSite Image Management, we’re offering some of the best viewing technology in the U.S. with our MAMMO program. In fact, our solution for viewing and processing mammography, ultrasound, CT, MRI and tomosynthesis includes all common image processing functions, including image comparison, measurements and others.

If you’re looking for advanced processing features, you’ll be interested in MAMMO because it offers the following:

• Reference lines between MG and US
• Reference lines between MLO and CC images
• Mammography CAD support of virtually any vendor
• Tomosynthesis cine plus MIP creation

You can sign up for our SaaS model and get one touch automatic initialization, horizontal and oblique masking, and other tools aimed at improving mammography. You also get unlimited upgrades, updates and software support, as well as training. For more information, visit our MAMMO page.