Investigational CAD for Virtual Colonoscopy to Be Shown in Four Booths At
The Radiological Society of North America Meeting
CHICAGO, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Expanding their relationship to another
disease state, R2 Technology, Inc., the recognized leader in computer-aided
detection (CAD) technology, today announced a license agreement with the
University of Chicago Medical Center for work developed in the Department of
Radiology, covering the development of CAD tools for the detection of polyps
and masses in virtual colonoscopy. The Department of Radiology at the
University of Chicago is a recognized pioneer in CAD development. CAD for
computed tomography (CT) based virtual colonoscopy, is designed to aid in the
early detection of pre-cancerous lesions and colon cancer.
R2 also announced that its investigational CAD tools for virtual
colonoscopy, sometimes known as CT Colonography, will be shown here at the
89th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of
North America (RSNA), November 30-December 4. Based on the licensed University
of Chicago technology, the R2 CAD tools will be shown in the R2 Technology
booth as well as the technical exhibit booths of Voxar, Vital Images, and
EZEM.
"For many years, we have focused on research on CAD for various cancers,
such as breast and lung cancer, as well as CAD technology for high-performance
detection of polyps and masses in virtual colonoscopy," said Hiroyuki Yoshida,
Ph.D., assistant professor, Radiology, The University of Chicago, who leads
the Colon CAD research group in the department with Abraham Dachman, M.D.,
professor, Radiology. "As a result, we succeeded in developing an effective
and sophisticated colon CAD technology. Clinical evaluation results show
great promise for finding polyps larger than 5 mm with high accuracy, with a
small number of false positives that can be dismissed by radiologists with
little effort."
Colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women
in the United States, can be prevented if precursor colonic polyps are
detected and removed. Virtual colonoscopy, which is a technique for detecting
colorectal neoplasms by use of a CT scan of the gas-filled colon, has been
proposed as a promising alternative technique to conventional colonoscopy and
barium enema for colon cancer screening. For virtual colonoscopy to be a
practical screening tool, many CT images must be acquired and interpreted
rapidly and accurately. CAD for automated detection of polyps and masses in
virtual colonoscopy is expected to assist radiologists in detecting polyps and
masses quickly and accurately, by providing them with a "second pairs of eyes"
regarding the locations of suspicious polyps.
"CAD for the early detection of polyps and masses can be applied to both
2D and 3D images and will be a very powerful tool which will facilitate the
transition of virtual colonoscopy to widespread use, where thousands of people
may be scanned by CT and radiologists will be overwhelmed by a massive amount
of image data," said Dr. Dachman. "We are very excited that R2 licensed our
CAD technology and has made significant progress in the development of a
commercial CT Colonography CAD system that will be used to learn how to
improve the early detection of colon cancer and eventually reduce the number
of deaths from colon cancer."
The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that about 107,300 new cases
of colon cancer and 41,000 new cases of rectal cancer will be diagnosed in
2002. Colon cancer is expected to cause about 48,100 deaths during 2002 and an
estimated 8,500 men and women will die from rectal cancer during 2002. The ACS
indicates that the five-year relative survival rate is 90 percent for people
whose colorectal cancer is treated in an early stage, before it has spread.
But, only 37 percent of colorectal cancers are found at that early stage. Once
the cancer has spread to nearby organs or lymph nodes, the five-year relative
survival rate drops to 65 percent. For people whose colorectal cancer has
spread to distant parts of the body, such as the liver or lungs, the five-year
relative survival rate is eight percent.
The investigational software for virtual colonoscopy will be designed for
integration into R2's ImageChecker(R)CT CAD system. The ImageChecker CT
display workstation, which has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and
Drug Administration, is a combination of dedicated computer software and
hardware, providing tools for radiologists to aid in the review of CT exams.
R2 is currently developing CAD and other analytical tools for a variety of
CT applications. In October 2003, R2 Technology announced the installation of
the world's first ImageChecker CT CAD system at IASO General Hospital in
Athens, Greece. This new technology is used to improve the accuracy of lung
nodule detection, and in conjunction with the enhanced visualization tools
provided by the ImageChecker CT workstation, to improve the productivity of
radiologists when reading the large data sets generated with MDCT examinations
of the thorax. The ImageChecker CT LN-1000, which includes the CAD software,
is pending FDA approval in the United States.
"R2 and the University of Chicago have had a long and fruitful partnership
focused on developing CAD applications for mammography. This partnership led
to the first FDA approved CAD system for clinical use five years ago. In 2003,
some eight million mammograms will be interpreted with the assistance of the
ImageChecker CAD system -- that's nearly 20 percent of all screening
mammograms performed in the US," says Michael Klein, president and CEO of R2
Technology. "We are very excited that this latest agreement with The
University of Chicago, a recognized pioneer of CAD development, takes us
beyond the detection of breast cancer into abdominal imaging. A natural
extension of our OmniCAD vision and the ImageChecker CT platform, we are very
close to making yet another generation of CAD tools available."
About The University of Chicago Medical Center
For eight years, The University of Chicago Hospitals have been selected
among the 15 best hospitals in the United States by U.S. News & World Report,
in their annual survey of America's nearly 7,000 hospitals. Based at the
University's campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, the Hospitals
are devoted to research, teaching and patient care. Eleven of the University's
73 Nobel Prize winners were selected for their work in physiology or medicine,
and scientists and physicians at the Medical Center have contributed to all
fields of biological research.
About R2 Technology, Inc.
R2 Technology, Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a recognized
leader in the development and commercialization of computer-aided detection
(CAD), an innovative technology that assists radiologists in the early
detection of breast cancer and other abnormalities. As a medical software
company, R2 is developing CAD systems for a variety of imaging modalities and
disease states. R2 recently received an "A" rating from MD Buyline and was
given the 2003 Frost and Sullivan Product Leadership Award. For information,
visit http://www.r2tech.com.
NOTE: ImageChecker is a registered trademark and OmniCAD is a trademark
of R2 Technology, Inc.
SOURCE R2 Technology, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.r2tech.com
CONTACT:
media, Chris K. Joseph, +1-408-481-5668, or
cjoseph@r2tech.com, or Amy Cook, +1-925-552-7893, or
amcpr@pacbell.net, for R2 Technology, Inc.
NOTE TO EDITORS: An article entitled, "Computed Tomographic
Virtual Colonoscopy to Screen for Colorectal Neoplasia in
Asymptomatic Adults" and an editorial entitled "Screening Virtual
Colonoscopy - Ready for Prime Time?," will appear in the December
4, 2003, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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