LAS VEGAS, March 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Matakina
International, Limited of New Zealand and PenRad Technologies,
Inc., a leader in medical image and information management, today
announced that the companies have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI)
to use the PenRad Mammography Information System (MIS) to display
the Volpara™ breast imaging software. The announcement was
made from the National Consortium of Breast Center’s (NCBC) 21st
Annual National Interdisciplinary Breast Center Conference.
Offering radiologists a reliable and cost-effective tool to
automatically generate objective volumetric breast density values,
the FDA-cleared Volpara breast imaging software computes volumetric
breast tissue density from digital screening mammograms.
Volpara software assists radiologists by providing objective,
automatic and robust measurement of volumetric breast tissue
density and is currently available for Hologic and GE digital
mammography systems with validation of integration with other
systems underway.
Breast tissue density has not only been linked to an increased
risk of breast cancer, it also decreases the sensitivity of the
mammogram and thereby may impact early detection. Several
large studies have confirmed that as tissue density increases the
accuracy of mammography decreases. Thirty-five percent of breast
cancer goes undetected by mammography in women with dense breasts,
as density masks the appearance of tumors (Boyd et al 2007,
NEJM). Since both dense breast tissue and cancer appear
white on a mammogram, finding cancers can be analogous to looking
for a snowball in a snow storm.
“PenRad shares our commitment to improving the detection of
cancer through better access to critical breast health
information,” said Dr. Ralph Highnam, CEO, Matakina International,
Ltd. “The objective measurement of breast density clearly
offers important clinical information, but the technology will not
be used effectively
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