Fujifilm’s FCR 5000 MA (left) and Hologic Inc.’s   Lorad Selenia full-field digital mammography system (right)

Digital mammography — may it be based on digital radiography or computed radiography — was the talk of breast screening and diagnosis at RSNA 2002. Several new units and accessories were debuted as well as refinements to established systems introduced. Good news about breast CAD also came out of the meeting as an independent study of three CAD systems found system performance good and consistent overall.

Hologic Inc.’s (Bedford, Mass.) Lorad Selenia full-field digital mammography (FFDM) system made its RSNA debut fresh off its October 2002 pre-market approval (PMA) supplement from the FDA. Selenia uses Hologic’s DirectRay amorphous-selenium, direct-to-digital image receptor to generate digital mammographic images that can be used for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. Hologic’s DirectRay division (Newark, Del.) produces the patented digital image receptor.

Initial shipments of Selenia began in the fourth quarter of 2002.

The company also plans to tap into the existing upgrade marketplace, which includes more than 3,000 installed Lorad M-IV screen-film mammography systems that can be converted to direct-to-digital capability in the field.

Instrumentarium Imaging Oy (Helsinki) demonstrated its new Diamond DX FFDM system at RSNA 2002. The configuration includes the company’s Diamond DX digital mammography unit, modality workstation and the Diamond Diagnostic workstation for image viewing.

Instrumentarium’s Diamond DX uses RealTime Selenium second-generation amorphous selenium for the system’s digital detector technology to eliminate ghosting and image noise.

Please refer to the January 2003 issue for the complete story. For information on article reprints, contact Martin St. Denis