News

Radiologie Magazin 01-2020 p. 16ff.

Innovative breast imaging at the University Hospital Zurich: compression-free without compromise

A report of the Radiologie Magazin about the experiences with the breast CT scanner nu:view at the University Hospital Zurich.

Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Andreas Boss, the senior consultant responsible for breast imaging at USZ, compares breast CT with conventional diagnostic methods and highlights the advantages of breast CT in clinical practice.

Read the full article here (in German language).

On December 3, 2019, Prof. Dr. med. Frauenfelder (Universitätsspital Zürich) was a guest at the RSNA booth of AB-CT and shared his experiences from radiological practice on the basis of selected clinical cases:

“We use mamma-computed tomography primarily as a supplement or alternative to mammography because it is a compression-free method. For many women, this is a relief from the current situation, because this compression is more often experienced as painful. The other thing is that this possibility gives us a superimposition-free imaging of the breast in all three dimensions. We can very accurately localize the tumors or calcifications and we can also make a statement about the type of the calcifications and lesions.”

Brust-CT – AB-CT from Radiologie Magazin on Vimeo.

Das Radiologie Magazin – die Zeitschrift für Trends in Technik und IT – berichtet in der Ausgabe 02-2019, S.70f. über die Anwendung der revolutionäre Photon-Counting-Technologie im Brust-CT-Scanner nu:view.

Der Beitrag nu:view Brust- CT-Scanner mit Spiral-CT-Technologie  verdeutlicht den innovativen Aspekt dieser Technologie und die damit verbundenen Vorteile für Radiologen und Patienten.

Zur vollständigen elektronischen Ausgabe des Magazins 02-2019 gelangen Sie hier

Anlässlich des 100. Deutschen Röntgenkongresses gibt Willi A. Kalender, Gründer und wissenschaftlicher Berater der AB-CT – Advanced Breast-CT GmbH,  eine Übersicht zum Stand der Forschung und Entwicklung auf dem Gebiet der Spiral-CT-Technik und -Anwendungen.

30 Jahre Spiral-CT mit bahnbrechenden technologischen Entwicklungen und positiven klinischen Ergebnissen für die Radiologie und für die Patienten.

Wir laden Sie herzlich zum Symposium “Spektral-Detektor-CT” ein. Erfahren Sie mehr über die Entwicklung des Spiral-CTs während drei Jahrzehnten.

Sie finden uns in Halle 2, Stand A30.

Wir freuen uns auf Ihren Besuch in Leipzig.

Ein Gespräch zwischen Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Boss aus dem Universitätsspital Zürich und Dr. med. Dr. phil. Anna Erat.

Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Boss, erster Anwender von nu:view, dem Spiral Computertomographen für die Darstellung der weiblichen Brust, informiert in einem kurzem Interview über die Funktionsweise und Vorzüge des Brust-CTs.

A dedicated breast CT scanner that features a photon-counting detector produces high-quality images at a low radiation dose. The findings indicate that the CT scanner could be a useful tool for breast cancer screening, according to a study published online March 2 in Investigative Radiology.

In fact, a team from the University of Zurich in Switzerland believes that breast CT has the potential to further improve breast lesion detection and characterization compared with mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis — particularly because it does not require breast compression, and the photon-counting detector technology reduces radiation dose to levels comparable to those of a conventional mammogram.

“Previous studies investigating the use of conebeam breast CT in comparison to mammography reported higher radiation doses for breast CT, especially when referring to a screening setting,” wrote a group led by Dr. Nicole Berger. “More recently, new strategies have strongly increased the dose efficiency due to the use of novel photon-counting detector technology, resulting in dose levels for breast CT comparable to those of screening mammography or lower.”

Yet another benefit to breast CT is that it can be used with contrast, Berger and colleagues wrote.

“The possibility to perform contrast-enhanced examinations indicates a possible usage of breast CT comparable to breast MR imaging with the additional capability to simultaneously detect microcalcifications and soft-tissue contrast enhancement,” the researchers noted.

Holy grail?

Researchers continue to seek ways to screen for breast cancer that will minimize potential harms and maximize benefits, and Berger’s team is no different. This study used data from start-up firm Advanced Breast-CT’s dedicated spiral breast CT system, nu:view, which has a photon-counting detector based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) crystals. It’s the first clinical in vivo application of nu:view, which received CE Mark certification in September of last year.

Questions have arisen as to whether the resolution of breast CT is high enough to depict microcalcifications. The new detectors address this concern.

“Up to now, resolution of breast CT did not reach high enough resolution to visualize microcalcifications, which the new dedicated breast CT can provide. … The high resolution, but also the possibility to evaluate the images in different planes, increases and facilitates the characterization of lesions regarding suspicious features such as conspicuity, calcifications, and asymmetries, as well as masses,” the researchers wrote.

For the current study, 12 women referred for breast cancer screening underwent bilateral breast CT in the prone position as well as breast ultrasound. Three of the 12 women had previous mammography available for comparison.

Two radiologists interpreted 15 breast CT exams, which they evaluated for image quality using the following measures: spatial resolution, contrast resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and contrast-to-noise ratio. The researchers used final reports from the breast CT evaluations with ultrasound assessment as the reference standard.

Finally, study participants gave feedback about both positioning and overall comfort during the exam using a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 equal to maximum comfort).

The major pectoral muscle was included in 15 breast CT scans (62.5%); a glandular component was partially missing in two (8.3%) of the 24 scanned breasts. Berger’s group found a “ring” artifact in all scans, although it did not influence image interpretations.

Breast CT identified three masses that were confirmed to be simple cysts on ultrasound. Ultrasound identified another five simple cysts and two solid benign lesions. In all of the breast CT exams, 12 calcifications were identified, with a median size of 1.1 mm; both readers identified all three masses and 11 of 12 calcifications on breast CT.

As for the women’s feedback about the comfort of the exam, the majority (75%) ranked it a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5; all women with prior mammography ranked the breast CT exam as more comfortable due to the absence of compression.

With respect to radiation dose, Monte Carlo simulations on phantoms found that mean dose was in the range of 5.08 mGy. For point of comparison, Hendrick et al in 2010 found radiation dose from two-view digital mammography of 3.7 mGy and for film-screen mammography of 4.7 mGy.

“The new dedicated spiral breast CT equipped with a photon-counting detector provides high-quality images at low radiation dose and shows considerable potential for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer, along with improved patient comfort compared with conventional mammography,” Berger and colleagues concluded.

Source: AuntMinnie

You’re cordially invited to join the Opening Symposium “Entwicklung der Computertomographie im Hinblick auf das Jahr 2020”

Prof. Willi Kalender will give a lecture on “Spiral-CT der Brust mit hoher Ortsauflösung und niedriger Dosis”

Please join our session and take the opportunity to discuss the game changing results:

Date:                     Wednesday, 09-May-18

Time:                     13:00

Place:                   Raum Levy-Dorn CCL Ebene +2 Leipzig

Language:           German

You will find our booth at Hall2, Booth C20

We are looking forward to seeing you at Leipzig