Research Presented at IWDM Used VolparaEnterprise to Study Relationship between Mammographic Compression and Cancer Detection; Results Could Help Define Better Guidelines
WELLINGTON, NZ, July 14, 2016 – Volpara Solutions today announced the commercial launch of VolparaEnterprise software, which helps breast imaging providers deliver high quality, personalized breast screening. The Microsoft Azure–based solution provides real-time quality assurance and performance monitoring through dynamic, interactive dashboards.
VolparaEnterprise software delivers key performance indicators (KPIs) for hundreds of performance and quality metrics. Rooted in Volpara’s fundamental scientific understanding of breast anatomy and imaging technologies, the VolparaEnterprise ConstantQuality metrics are updated with every mammography or tomosynthesis exam. VolparaEnterprise software enables breast imaging providers to perform rapid quality control checks to optimize the productivity and efficiency of imaging resources, to help reduce costs through the reduction of retakes, to increase staff effectiveness, and to provide objective evidence to demonstrate compliance and quality of care.
Examples of how VolparaEnterprise software has already helped sites improve productivity, quality assurance and cancer detection rates, include the following:
- A facility discovered that a mammography system was using an incorrect dose setting, over-exposing patients compared to the same machine type and same patient body habitus in similar facilities.
- A facility discovered that it did not need to purchase an additional mammography machine because the software demonstrated that utilization was below the break-even point.
- One site told Volpara, “Your initial report was what prompted discussion, but being able to navigate around and see that out of 900 dose alerts they were all from the same unit was priceless.”
VolparaEnterprise software is designed to scale to handle both large and small enterprises, whether located entirely in one site or across many. With a central database, users can securely access their dashboard from any browser or mobile device to be able to contrast and compare performance in each facility or view quality and performance metrics in aggregate.
“VolparaEnterprise software offers the first comprehensive tool to analyze clinical, quality, and business data that impact nearly every aspect of a breast imaging practice. There is a tremendous amount of data that we’ve never been able to access easily. The ability to track trends for hundreds of quality metrics over time can dramatically enhance our ability to maintain quality patient care as well as reduce the amount of time our staff spends on quality assurance,” said Bruce F. Schroeder, MD, Carolina Breast Imaging Specialists in Greenville, North Carolina.
VolparaEnterprise software provides Clinical Quality Measures (CQMs) sought by payers to justify supplemental screening. The objective assessment of volumetric breast density helps reduce time spent by radiologists and technologists on recalls that are not clinically beneficial, such as ultrasound on fatty breasts inadvertently deemed “dense” due to subjective assessment of density. This not only results in better patient care, but preserves proper equipment utilization and staff workflow and productivity.
Researchers from the Netherlands used VolparaEnterprise to complete a study investigating the relationship between pressure applied during compression of the breast and screening performance. Results of the study, “Performance of breast cancer screening depends on mammographic compression, suggest high pressure reduces detectability of breast cancer,” were recently presented at the IWDM 2016. Results demonstrated that cancers detected and PPV were optimal in the middle compression category (9.18 to 10.71 kPa). These results can have significant implications for how breast screening is performed. It is known that under-compression leads to poor image quality; however, this study shows that pain is not the only adverse outcome of over-compression. With an almost two extra cancers per 1,000 detected at the medium pressure compared to the extremes, the effect of compression on cancer detection was significant and suggests that over-compression may affect tumor visibility. Researchers conclude that both under- and over-compression have undesirable effects in the context of the Dutch breast screening program, and pressure is an important metric to take into account.
Volpara Solutions technology, including VolparaDensity, is currently in use in 35 countries, and more than 9 million women have had their breast density analyzed using VolparaDensity.
“As practices transition from one-size-fits-all mammography screening to personalized healthcare with multi-modality imaging, real-time quality assurance monitoring is more important than ever,” said Ralph Highnam, PhD, Volpara Chief Scientist and CEO. “VolparaEnterprise software seamlessly integrates with VolparaDensity and our existing suite of quantitative breast imaging solutions to offer users a robust clinical management resource to optimize productivity, quality assurance and cancer detection rates.”
About Volpara Solutions
Founded with the goal of helping radiologists give women the most accurate information possible regarding their breast health, Volpara Solutions is the wholly owned sales and marketing arm of Volpara Health Technologies Limited of New Zealand. Available in most markets where breast cancer screening is commonplace, VolparaDensity provides an objective volumetric measure of breast density from both digital mammography and tomosynthesis data. VolparaDensity is part of a suite of quantitative breast imaging tools built on the Volpara Solutions algorithm that allows for personalized measurements of density, patient-specific x-ray dose, breast compression, breast positioning and other factors designed to provide critical insight for breast imaging workflow.
