Carestream Health’s multi-modality breast imaging workstation streamlines digital workflow, improves radiologist productivity

Published: 06/11/2009

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - (HealthTech Wire / News) - European healthcare facilities are turning to vendor-neutral, multi-modality breast imaging workstations to streamline reading of digital breast exams.

“Productivity at many European facilities is hampered by the need to read full-field digital mammography (FFDM) exams on each vendor’s proprietary workstation, and then switch to additional workstations to review other types of breast exams. The need for an efficient workflow is driving strong sales for our flexible multi-modality workstation,” said Stephen W. Archer, director of Worldwide Marketing, Mammography Solutions, Carestream Health, Inc.

The KODAK CARESTREAM Mammography Workstation enables diagnostic review of all breast imaging exams (FFDM, ultrasound, MR, CR and others) as well as all general radiology exams.

“Features such as CAD integration, multi-modality functionality and rapid retrieval were very important to us when selecting our breast imaging workstation platform,” said Radiologist Dr Hubert Kubin at the Institute of Radiology in Salzberg, Austria. “Carestream Health’s mammography workstation is easy to use and offers many specific functionality features which improve diagnostic reading workflow.”

Carestream Health’s workstation offers many time-saving features including user-customisable hanging protocols and an eight-key programmable mouse. “I appreciate the high flexibility offered by the display protocols, which are tailored to my specific needs for productive reading,” said Radiologist, Regine Rathmann, Head of Regional Assessment Centre for Screening Programmes, Hanover, Germany. “During the past three years I have read more than 100,000 mammography cases on Carestream Health multi-modality workstations and have found the system to be stable and highly reliable. We have four workstations dedicated to mammography and I can easily review all exams from both screening and general radiology at each.”

More than 100 healthcare providers worldwide have ordered the KODAK CARESTREAM Mammography Workstation, including a number of orders from northern Europe, namely Uppsala County, north of Stockholm, Sweden; Ringsted Sygehus in the Sjaelland Region of Denmark; the Icelandic Cancer Society; Mammography Screening Centre in Bielefeld, Germany; the Institute for Radiology in Hollerbrunn, Austria and Clinic Dr Hancken in Stade, Germany.

In addition to its multi-modality workstation, Carestream Health’s portfolio of digital mammography products includes:

• Mammography-specific modules that supply specialised patient scheduling and communications, as well as reporting capabilities, for its RIS/PACS platform
• Digital capture of mammography images on its KODAK DIRECTVIEW CR systems in Canada, Europe, Australia, Asia and other regions of the world where approved for use
• Computer-aided detection software for its CR-based mammography exams, which is currently available outside the United States; and High-resolution output to KODAK DRYVIEW Laser Imaging Systems.