With its 5MP display system, Belgium-based global technology company Barco is poised to address the needs of customers who are looking beyond traditional mammography toward multiframe breast imaging modalities, such as tomosynthesis.

According to Albert Xthona, the company’s product manager for women’s health, the Mammo Tomosynthesis 5MP display system has received strong feedback, easily winning side-by-side demos against other models for breast images.

“The high end of the mammography market is the part associated with dedicated breast screening and diagnostic centers,” said Xthona. “This is about 50% of the market, and it is rapidly moving onto the new display. As people move to multiframe breast imaging modalities, they need to have displays that can rapidly flip through the images without blur. Keep in mind that new purchases replace existing units over a 5- to 10-year period. Use of more multimodality breast imaging for both diagnostic and screening work may further accelerate the demand.”

Barco’s Mammo Tomosynthesis 5MP is twice as bright as conventional displays.

Digital breast tomosynthesis, a modality used in breast cancer screening and diagnosis that was approved earlier this year by the FDA in the form of Hologic’s Selenia Dimensions system, is known to produce more accurate images, compared to traditional mammography.

“The modality has an advantage in separating out overlapping structures, and the displays have the advantage of removing the fixed LCD patter noise,” Xthona said. “You may remember the long DMIST trial that barely showed an advantage for digital mammography over film—this is a much more obvious advantage, with dozens of trials and published papers.”

The Mammo Tomosynthesis 5MP, which last year received FDA clearance for use in standard and multiframe digital mammography, as well as breast tomosynthesis, boasts a number of benefits, according to Barco. For one, it ensures correct diagnoses by avoiding the typical motion blur that occurs when scrolling through a stack of images. It also eliminates disturbing screen noise, which better distinguishes the differences in tissue density and allows for detection of lesions.

Other features include a “hot light” button for an added temporary boost of brightness, automatic checks for optimal contrast and luminance, and an online service for automated calibration, consistent image quality, and uptime of all displays throughout the facility.

Alain Gauvin, RIS-PACS manager at McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, said his facility purchased Barco’s display partly because it was impressed with the system’s increased brightness, described as double that of conventional displays. This component is essential for optimal image viewing, he continued.

“Also, the higher refresh rate is very important with tomosynthesis since you are viewing so many more images for each study, compared to a traditional mammography exam where you may need to review only four scans,” said Gauvin, a long-time Barco customer who purchased five pairs of the company’s Mammo Tomosynthesis 5MP display system earlier this year. “Barco’s tomosynthesis display doesn’t have a lag like other displays, so you can quickly move through 20 images or so in a tomo study at the rate of a couple of scans per second. The demos of the Barco display really showed how quickly you can shuffle through a stack of images and see changes immediately.”

Furthermore, the display’s functionality is particularly useful for Gauvin’s recently turned digital department, which still has a significant amount of films that it needs to review for history, as well as comparison with new digital breast exam images. “The film clip with viewbox mode on the tomo display is very attractive for this reason, and will be a handy feature when we don’t have so many light boxes in the future. We also really like the convenient new stand that fits well within our workspace, requiring less management of the desk surface.”

Gauvin said his department will be upgrading its PACS system in a few weeks, when it will commence using the tomosynthesis capability.

“Because the Mammo Tomosynthesis 5MP display is twice as bright and makes the images clearer, I hope that all mammography radiologists have the chance to see it and decide if they want to use it,” Xthona said. “Potentially, this could lead to early replacement or repurposing other 5MP equipment.”