GE Healthcare Unveils Innovative Technology in Breast Cancer Imaging; Can Reduce Time from Detection to Diagnosis

June 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Helps increase accuracy of assessment, helps reduce patient anxiety
PARIS–(Business Wire)–
GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE), a pioneer in digital mammography, today announced the
introduction of an innovative technology to aid in breast cancer diagnosis. GE
Healthcare`s new SenoBright1 Contrast Enhanced Spectral Mammography (CESM)
technology reduces ambiguity in mammography results, enabling physicians to
detect and diagnose cancer with more confidence – even in the densest part of
the breast tissue more rapidly and accurately.

Working like the multiple-flash, red-eye reduction function in a digital camera,
SenoBright uses X-rays at multiple energies to create two separate exposures.
These resulting images specifically illuminate and highlight areas where there
is angiogenesis, growth of small blood vessels potentially related to the
presence of cancer.

“A CESM exam takes from 5 to 10 minutes,” said Dr. Clarisse Dromain, Gustave
Roussy Cancer Institute, France. “During my investigation of the use of CESM
with my own examinations of patients, I have been able to better define the
spread of a cancer compared to standard mammography and ultrasound, and
follow-up exams with an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) validated exactly the
same results. Moreover, in the majority of cases the confidence in the diagnosis
is high enough that the patient can be told the results that same day,” she
added.

The diagnostic challenge

SenoBright enables the digital mammography system to detect a whole new type of
diagnostic information. Standard mammography only sees the structure of breast
tissue. With SenoBright, doctors can also locate the proliferation of small
blood vessels, potentially associated with cancerous tumor growth. In addition,
it shows potential for measuring the extension of the lesion to help to plan
surgery and treatment. Patients receive an intravenous injection of standard
iodine contrast agent, and after two minutes undergo a five-minute digital
mammography exam. CESM images are acquired in familiar mammography views so that
that they can be quickly and easily correlated with standard results,
facilitating interpretation by other specialists like surgeons or oncologists.

“Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people annually are diagnosed with breast
cancer. Since 1965, GE Healthcare has made significant progress in providing
solutions for breast cancer detection and diagnosis that really bring a change
to people`s lives. Today through `healthymagination`, we continuously develop
innovations to reduce costs, increase access and improve quality and efficiency
of healthcare delivery around the globe,” said Reinaldo Garcia, President and
CEO of GE Healthcare for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “GE Healthcare
is pleased to bring to market such advanced breast imaging technologies like
SenoBright, the result of over 10 years and $12 million investment of research
and clinical collaborations. This innovative technology will support the earlier
diagnosis of this prevalent disease, by providing access to new diagnostic
information at a lower cost.”

The product development was carried out in collaboration between GE Healthcare
and Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP). The goal of the joint research
program is to develop new and innovative technologies for aiding in the
diagnosis of breast cancer using the latest developments in digital mammography.

Dr. Tidu Maini, Science and Technology Advisor to Her Highness, Sheikha Mozah
bint Nasser Al Missned, and Executive Chairman of Qatar Science & Technology
Park, said, “Our collaboration with GE Healthcare is a step towards making Qatar
a global medical innovator while delivering real health benefits for the local
community.”

Same staff, same equipment- same day

SenoBright is an easy procedure that can be conducted by the same staff, using
the same mammography equipment, potentially on the same day as the exam-
allowing medical professionals to cut the critical time patients often have to
wait from detection to diagnosis.

“Given our proven history of breast imaging innovations, GE is proud to release
yet another innovative technology, soon to be available to much of our digital
installed base. We are one of the only companies today to engineer and
manufacture the entire mammography imaging chain from tube, and detector to
review workstation, coupled with integration of the comprehensive local
requirements for each customer, ” said David Caumartin, GE Healthcare`s General
Manager Mammography. “SenoBright is likely to be a key enabler of accelerated
patient workflow from diagnostics to treatment planning. It is enhancing the
widely accepted technology of digital mammography by adding the functional
information in order to detect angiogenesis.”

Clarity of results

Digital mammography is considered a relevant means of breast cancer screening,
delivering proven clinical outcomes. The sensitivity and specificity of images
can, however, be affected by a range of factors. Dense breast tissue can overlap
with lesions, which are not always visible on an X-ray, and radiologists`
interpretation of images can vary.

Inconclusive digital mammography presents a range of challenges to healthcare
professionals and patients. Ambiguity can result in diagnostic error, demanding
further tests that can include ultrasound, invasive biopsy and Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning – all of which could delay the diagnostic
process, in some cases by weeks or even months.

SenoBright can remove this ambiguity, helping to ensure that those patients who
need to go into cancer treatment do so – and do so quickly. Whereas patients who
do not have malignant lesions have the potential to find out on the same day,
relieving their burden of uncertainty. Compared to mammography alone, clinical
studies show that SenoBright improves sensitivity and specificity:

* for every 100 cancers, there is the potential to find 13 more;
* 6 more benign lesions out of 100 can be correctly classified;
* 19 more patients out of 100 without cancer can be sent home.

“The addition of intravenous contrast to mammography gives us the possibility to
obtain information in the mammogram that was previously only obtained from MRI,”
said Dr. David Dershaw, Director of Breast Imaging at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center, USA. “This has the potential to convey the advantages of MRI
imaging in screening and diagnosis to women for whom this test is indicated but
not currently available.”

The new CESM technology works with an upgrade to GE Healthcare`s Senographe DS
and Senographe Essential digital mammography equipment. GE`s Senographe
platforms are full-field digital mammography systems designed to meet clinical
needs, from screening to diagnostic and interventional procedures and designed
for future advanced applications.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The SenoBright option cannot be put into service until it has been made to
comply with CE marking. It may not be available in all regions. The SenoBright
option is not cleared or approved by U.S. FDA.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that
are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging
and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems,
drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance
improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver
better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we
partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change
necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on
our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs,
increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world.
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $16 billion unit of
General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than
46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients
in more than 100 countries.

For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at

http://www.gehealthcare.com

For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com

Media
GE Healthcare
Allison J. Cohen
+972 (4) 8579 290
allison.cohen@ge.com

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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‘Single shot’ breast cancer treatment to ward off radiotherapy ordeals

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 29 (ANI): A single half-hour “shot” treatment for breast cancer can now do away with a six-week course of tumour-destroying therapy, according to British doctors.

The radiotherapy treatment, which is for use in patients with early breast cancer after they have undergone surgery on the tumour, is showing positive results in early trials in patients.

The novel therapy is designed to kill remaining cancerous cells with a concentrated beam of radiation.

Currently, women with breast cancer undergo a five to six-week course of radiotherapy treatment after surgery, involving about 20 hospital visits.

The surgery is designed to conserve as much of the breast as possible, rather than a mastectomy where the whole breast is removed.

But the radiotherapy course can cause more general damage to the tissue and greater distortion to the breast.

The medics believe that, after the publication of trial data later this year, a single dose of intra-operative radiation therapy (IORT) could become more widely available and offer women a less gruelling and more cosmetically satisfactory outcome.

The procedure involves lowering a spherical applicator, ranging between a marble and a squash ball in size, into the tumour through the incision created during surgery while the patient is still under anaesthetic.

This applicator then gives out a uniform dose of low energy X-rays directly to the surrounding 2cm-deep area of the tumour bed.

The ten-year targeted intra-operative therapy trial aims to show that IORT is as safe and effective as a conventional course of radiotherapy.

Michael Baum, a British cancer specialist involved with the trial, said that the excitement surrounded the possibility that a one-shot treatment might be at least as effective and safe as conventional treatment.

Patients would then be able to move on to drug-based therapies, chemotherapy or hormonal therapy, as required.

Baum said that the portable machine, called the Intrabeam and manufactured by the Karl Zeiss Corporation in Germany, emits X-rays of a different quality to electron beam radiation, giving a different biological effect that “has the equivalent effect”.

“[The treatment] has a major complication of distorting the breast, and the breasts can end up different sizesIf this is shown to work [in the full trial results], many women will be spared six weeks of treatment going back and forth to the radiotherapy centre. Women would vote with their feet for this treatment,” Times Online quoted Baum as saying.

The study results will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference. (ANI)

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Ginger can reduce post-chemotherapy nausea by 40 pct

May 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 15 (ANI): Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have suggested that people with cancer can reduce post-chemotherapy nausea by 40 percent by using ginger supplements, along with standard anti-vomiting drugs, before undergoing treatment.

“There are effective drugs to control vomiting, but the nausea is often worse because it lingers,” said lead author Julie L. Ryan, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of Dermatology and Radiation Oncology at Rochester’s James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

“Nausea is a major problem for people who undergo chemotherapy and it’s been a challenge for scientists and doctors to understand how to control it,” Ryan added.

The Phase II/III placebo-controlled, double-blind study included 644 cancer patients who would receive at least three chemotherapy treatments.

They were divided into four arms that received placebos, 0.5 gram of ginger, 1 gram of ginger, or 1.5 grams of ginger along with anti-vomiting drugs.

Patients took the ginger supplements three days prior to chemotherapy and three days following treatment.

Patients reported nausea levels at various times of day during following their chemotherapy and those who took the lower doses had a 40 percent reduction.

Ginger is readily absorbed in the body and has long been considered a remedy for stomach aches.

“By taking the ginger prior to chemotherapy treatment, the National Cancer Institute-funded study suggests its earlier absorption into the body may have anti-inflammatory properties,” Ryan said.

The research will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in the Patient and Survivor Care Session on Saturday, May 30, in Orlando, Fla. (ANI)

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Vitamin B12 offers effective treatment for canker sore

February 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 10 (ANI): A dose of vitamin B12 every night is a simple, effective and low risk therapy to prevent Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS), better known as “canker sores”, according to a new study.

The study was conducted by a team of physicians at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

“The frequency of RAS is as much as 25 percent in the general population, however, until now, there has been no optimal therapeutic approach,” said lead researcher Dr. Ilia Volkov.

For the study, the researchers tested the effect of vitamin B12 on 58 randomly selected RAS patients who received either a dose of 1,000 mcg of B12 by mouth at bedtime or a placebo, and were tested monthly for six months.

At the end of the study, almost three quarters (74 percent) of the patients in the experimental group and only a third (32 percent) in the control group achieved remission.

The researchers wrote: “The average outbreak duration and the average number of ulcers per month decreased in both groups during the first four months of the trial. However, the duration of outbreaks, the number of ulcers, and the level of pain were reduced significantly at five and six months of treatment with vitamin B12, regardless of initial vitamin B12 levels in the blood.”

During the last month of treatment, a significant number of participants in the intervention group reached ‘no aphthous ulcers status’ (74.1% vs 32.0%; P .01).

After treatment, patients expressed greater comfort, reported less pain, fewer ulcers, and shorter outbreaks during the six months.

However, among the control group the average pain level decreased during the first half of the period but increased during the second half.

The findings of the study have been reported in the latest issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vitamin B12 offers effective treatment for canker sore

February 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 10 (ANI): A dose of vitamin B12 every night is a simple, effective and low risk therapy to prevent Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS), better known as “canker sores”, according to a new study.

The study was conducted by a team of physicians at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

“The frequency of RAS is as much as 25 percent in the general population, however, until now, there has been no optimal therapeutic approach,” said lead researcher Dr. Ilia Volkov.

For the study, the researchers tested the effect of vitamin B12 on 58 randomly selected RAS patients who received either a dose of 1,000 mcg of B12 by mouth at bedtime or a placebo, and were tested monthly for six months.

At the end of the study, almost three quarters (74 percent) of the patients in the experimental group and only a third (32 percent) in the control group achieved remission.

The researchers wrote: “The average outbreak duration and the average number of ulcers per month decreased in both groups during the first four months of the trial. However, the duration of outbreaks, the number of ulcers, and the level of pain were reduced significantly at five and six months of treatment with vitamin B12, regardless of initial vitamin B12 levels in the blood.”

During the last month of treatment, a significant number of participants in the intervention group reached ‘no aphthous ulcers status’ (74.1% vs 32.0%; P .01).

After treatment, patients expressed greater comfort, reported less pain, fewer ulcers, and shorter outbreaks during the six months.

However, among the control group the average pain level decreased during the first half of the period but increased during the second half.

The findings of the study have been reported in the latest issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vitamin B12 offers effective treatment for canker sore

February 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 10 (ANI): A dose of vitamin B12 every night is a simple, effective and low risk therapy to prevent Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS), better known as “canker sores”, according to a new study.

The study was conducted by a team of physicians at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

“The frequency of RAS is as much as 25 percent in the general population, however, until now, there has been no optimal therapeutic approach,” said lead researcher Dr. Ilia Volkov.

For the study, the researchers tested the effect of vitamin B12 on 58 randomly selected RAS patients who received either a dose of 1,000 mcg of B12 by mouth at bedtime or a placebo, and were tested monthly for six months.

At the end of the study, almost three quarters (74 percent) of the patients in the experimental group and only a third (32 percent) in the control group achieved remission.

The researchers wrote: “The average outbreak duration and the average number of ulcers per month decreased in both groups during the first four months of the trial. However, the duration of outbreaks, the number of ulcers, and the level of pain were reduced significantly at five and six months of treatment with vitamin B12, regardless of initial vitamin B12 levels in the blood.”

During the last month of treatment, a significant number of participants in the intervention group reached ‘no aphthous ulcers status’ (74.1% vs 32.0%; P .01).

After treatment, patients expressed greater comfort, reported less pain, fewer ulcers, and shorter outbreaks during the six months.

However, among the control group the average pain level decreased during the first half of the period but increased during the second half.

The findings of the study have been reported in the latest issue of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,