Barco medical displays selected for country-wide mammography screening project in the Netherlands
RSNA Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA, 30 November 2008 - Medical imaging specialist Barco has won a contract to provide high-grade mammography display systems for a country-wide screening project in the Netherlands. Within the scope of this project, sixty-three mobile screening units and fifteen fixed imaging centers all over the country will be equipped with Barco Coronis display systems. When fully deployed in 2010, the ‘DigiBOB’-system will be capable of screening 900,000 women between the age of fifty and seventy-five every year.
The ‘DigiBOB’ screening project was commissioned in 2006 by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands (RIVM) to digitize the population screening for the prevention of breast cancer. To make screening as accessible as possible, the RIVM decided to deploy sixty-three specially adapted mobile units that will traverse the country. Technicians can X-ray dozens of patients each day and send the images each night to pairs of radiologists, who will then independently assess each mammogram.Every mobile screening unit will have Barco’s Coronis 2MP display system onboard to review the acquired images. In the fixed radiology centers, radiologists will have a dedicated, high-resolution Coronis 5MP Mammo display system for diagnosis of the X-rays images, and an additional screen for textual information. Each of these radiology stations, which are dispersed over the country, will be connected directly with a central archive over a 1 Gigabit optical network.
“Dependable breast screening requires an incomparable level of sharpness and contrast to ensure the correct display of every single pixel,” states Emile Knops, Project Leader of DigiBOB. “To achieve this level of precision, we have decided to rely on the Coronis 5MP Mammo displays, which have established an impeccable reputation for dependable breast diagnostics. Integrated in the digital workstations, they deliver both the diagnostic precision and the high-level performance we were looking for,” he adds.
Thanks to the high-performance display controllers of the Coronis systems, radiologists will have a powerful solution that enables them to load and manipulate client records, each containing multiple
X-ray images, at high speed. Moreover, the displays will be bundled with Barco’s innovative softcopy Quality Assurance solution. In combination with the intelligent I-Guard sensor, this MediCal QAWeb system provides an easy-to-use, web-based tool for automated calibration and QA.
Hans Mekenkamp of consultancy company MedicalPHIT, which was also involved in the selection process, concludes: “We are confident that the ‘DigiBOB’ mobile screening project will benefit from Barco’s vast experience in mammography imaging and the technological know-how that is reflected in the Coronis product line”.
Over the years, Barco’s Coronis 5MP Mammo displays have received wide acclaim for being the most advanced softcopy imaging solution on the market. The system covers an extremely high luminance range reaching up to 800 cd/m² and a dynamic range that represents more than 700 Just Noticeable Differences. Equipped with a unique Per Pixel Uniformity (PPU) function, the system constantly measures and adjusts the luminance output at pixel level to eliminate screen noise. Thanks to this unrivaled combination of diagnostic precision and productivity, the Coronis 5MP Mammo has become the standard of care in the majority of the screening centers around the globe.
About RIVM
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) is a recognised leading centre of expertise in the fields of health, nutrition and environmental protection. They work mainly for the Dutch government. They also share their knowledge with governments and supranational bodies around the world. The results of research, monitoring, modelling and risk assessment are used to underpin policy on public health, food, safety and the environment. RIVM employ over 1500 employees, many of whom work in multidisciplinary fields.
About MedicalPHIT
MedicalPHIT is a consultancy company that helps healthcare providers in finding and purchasing the best ICT solution or service for their specific needs. The MedicalPHIT team consists of specialists in the area of digitization of radiology and cardiology departments (PACS), HIS/RIS-systems, internet technology and workflow assement. MedicalPHIT is headquartered in Bussum, The Netherlands . For more information visit www.phit.nl.
About Barco
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3600 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of euro 747 million in 2007.
© Copyright 2008 by Barco - May be reproduced by professional press only
