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 Early Detection of Lung Cancer Lung cancer is the leading cause of death from cancer in both men and women in the United States, killing more people than cancers of the breast, colon, cervix and prostate combined. While survival rates have been climbing for other forms of cancer, the survival rates for lung cancer have remained dismal with one of the worst prognoses of all cancers.
Lung cancer does not cause any symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage, when treatment is least likely to work. Studies have indicated however that early Stage 1 Lung Cancer discovered through new screening techniques has a cure rate of 70% and sometimes even higher. A recent International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I- ELCAP) study published in October 2006 stated that lung cancer can be detected at its very earliest stage in 85 percent of patients using annual low-dose CT screening, and when followed by prompt surgical removal the 10-year survival rate is 92 percent.
Beyond these statistics, lung nodule analysis and follow up is one of the most challenging tasks confronting today's radiologists. The problems of dealing with hundreds of slices and the small differentiation between healthy anatomy and diseased structures contribute to make this an attention-intensive task.
Merge OEM recognizes that productivity can be enhanced by judicious software tools that aid physicians while still providing complete authority over the output.
A Flexible Screening Tool for Different Healthcare Facilities Cedara PrimeLung provides a flexible workflow that allows specialists familiar with traditional x-ray lung screening to easily make the transition to a CT lung review program. For PACS companies, modality manufacturers and other healthcare vendors interested in expanding their product offerings, PrimeLung provides an excellent means to support diagnostic analysis of the lungs and CT lung screening programs. Highlights of the application include,
- PACS connectivity as a standalone workstation or as an integrated capability for existing systems
- Advanced segmentation algorithms support easy visualization of lung nodules
- Comparison mode facilitates review of follow up studies
- Automatic report generation
PrimeLung is a complete workflow solution that provides a powerful tool for reviewing lung studies and reporting their findings. It enhances productivity by integrating software tools to visualize the lung, record findings, compare previous studies and automatically generate a report.
PrimeLung's sophisticated yet easy-to-use visualization technology provides physicians the capability to make clinical assessments quickly and easily.
Powerful Visualization Tools
- Advanced viewing tools support a configurable 4-pane viewing layout with real-time MPR and sliding slab MIP functionality to examine the lung and the candidate regions identified by the user.
Fast and Efficient Study Review
- Automated nodule segmentation generates a 3D representation of the nodule and provides its signal and dimensional measurements.
- Sophisticated navigation tools allow quick and thorough review of large studies
Compare Studies
- Nodules are automatically matched to findings of prior studies and progression is categorized
Automatic Report Generation
- Report generated automatically including patient information, findings of review, comparison results, images and recommendations
- Customizable report document template easily configured for clinical end user
- Incorporates a decision tree based on I-ELCAP recommendations. Consistent recommendations are generated from case to case.
For OEM companies, Cedara PrimeLung is available as a standalone workstation or can be
tightly integrated into existing PACS solutions using Merge OEM's unique C4 integration platform.
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