The R2 ImageChecker: New Technology Provides Check and Double Check for Breast Cancer Screenings
June 2002 — With more than 200,000 new cases expected this year, breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer among American women. One in eight women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime, with most cases occurring in those 40 or older.
Early detection is important to successful treatment of breast cancer. Now, new computer technology at Memorial Healthcare System is helping doctors be even more thorough in finding potentially deadly problems.
The R2 ImageChecker is a second line of defense in detecting breast cancer during a screening mammogram — a mammogram done on a patient who has no sign of breast cancer. After the mammogram film is developed, a radiologist reads it manually, and then the ImageChecker digitally analyzes the image and marks areas that may need a closer look.
How good is it? Using software originally developed for the military, the ImageChecker detects 8 to 28 percent more cancers than manual readings alone, according to Mary Hayes, MD, Medical Director, Breast Center at Memorial Regional Hospital.
"We diagnose and treat more than 400 breast cancer patients in the Breast Center at Memorial Regional Hospital every year. If you take a conservative estimate and say that the ImageChecker finds 10 percent more cancers, that is an additional 40 early-stage cancers detected," says Dr. Hayes. "Those are 40 lives that are significantly altered. Their overall health is improved when we can detect the cancer at an earlier stage."
It's also a huge difference for the radiologists. It takes very little additional time, but it gives quite a bit of additional information. Roger Styles, MD, Director of Breast Imaging Services, Memorial Hospital West Women's Center, has been impressed with the results, too. "This will establish a new standard of care," Styles says.
Two ImageCheckers were purchased with funds from the Memorial Foundation and Memorial Healthcare System. It was money well spent, according to Gail Bedell, RT, Operations Manager at Memorial Hospital West Women's Center.
"It's great," Bedell says. "The radiologists love it, because it's really having the films double-read. The radiologist reads it, and then the computer actually reads it and notes areas that need special attention. It doesn't have to be cancer; it can be anything that is not a normal finding."
Mammograms are available at the following Memorial Healthcare System locations:
- Memorial Regional Hospital
- Memorial Hospital West
- Memorial Hospital Pembroke
- The Esther L. Grossman Women's Health & Resource Center
- The Memorial Outpatient Center in Hallandale
Memorial Healthcare System's mobile mammography van also brings mammograms directly to the community. All Memorial Healthcare System mammograms are read by dedicated breast radiologists and then by ImageCheckers.
To learn more about cancer care and prevention, read Cancer Patients and Fitness and Women's Health — Regular Health Screenings Make a Difference. Memorial Healthcare System offers two breast cancer support groups. If you have a cancer-related question or concern, please contact the Memorial Regional Cancer Center at (954) 986-6363.