Private mammography provider in Switzerland joins the fight against osteoporosis

Centre d’Imagerie de Morges, an imaging center in the canton of Vaud, is the first facility in Switzerland to offer women an opportunity to combine their mammography examination with osteoporosis detection in a single examination. In this manner, women can examine their bone health and prevent fractures at an early stage, thereby avoiding unnecessary suffering and healthcare costs, and the center can give better service with a combined diagnosis at the same visit. The assessment of breast cancer and bone health in a single examination is made possible by an online service from the Swedish IT and medical-technology company Sectra.

Post-menopausal women compose a risk group for osteoporosis, one of the most painful and costly diseases in the world. In severe cases, osteoporosis can cause fractures which, in turn, can cause great suffering and, at worst, death. From November 2011, Centre d’Imagerie de Morges will offer women attending mammography examinations an opportunity to have their bone health examined with Sectra’s patented service for osteoporosis assessment, Sectra OneScreen.

“For most women, regular mammography examinations are a natural part of the safety net for the early detection of breast cancer. The ability to conduct screening to identify osteoporosis at the same time will mean that many women can avoid unnecessary suffering, and may also result in major cost savings for society,” says Torbjörn Kronander, President of Sectra’s medical operations.

With Sectra’s service, patients at high risk of fracture can be identified and treatment can be initiated. Additionally, Sectra’s service as an option helps clinics identify women who should have their bone mineral density (BMD) further investigated with a DXA scanner.

“We have recently started offering the combined examination to women and are already experiencing the benefits,” says Dr Pierre Bénédict at Centre d’Imagerie de Morges. “We have detected several women who we will now investigate further regarding risk factors for osteoporosis and, if necessary, start medical treatment.”

Less than 30 seconds
Osteoporosis is a heavily under-diagnosed disease and a simple method for identifying patients requiring treatment is needed. The online service, Sectra OneScreen, is a cost-efficient solution for identifying patients in the risk group for osteoporosis. The service is well suited to the mammography workflow. After the four breast images included in the mammography examination, an image of the hand is acquired with the same radiology equipment. Since the woman is already standing by the modality, this adds no more than 30 seconds to the examination time. With the standard X-ray image of the hand, the women’s bone health (Bone Mineral Density, BMD) is analyzed, using Sectra’s online service.

Clinics in Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK have introduced Sectra OneScreen into their mammography programs.

Benefits women, mammography clinics and society
The benefits of using Sectra’s online service to identify patients in the risk group for osteoporosis include:

• Allowing women to assess and take control of their bone health, thereby avoiding fractures and unnecessary suffering.
• Women at high risk of fractures are identified, and treatment or further investigation with DXA scanning can be initiated.
• Seamless integration into the regular mammography workflow. Possible to combine two examinations in one visit, adding only 30 seconds per woman.
• The woman only needs to visit once for two examinations.
• No radiologist time needed, the procedure is based on FDA and CE-approved automatic image analysis done “in the cloud” while preserving patient integrity.
• No need for new hardware – no major initial investment. Can be used with all major digital mammography devices.
• Improves the bottom line for clinics and hospitals by doing more at the same visit. Also generates new and more patients for existing DXA systems.
• Reduces healthcare costs for insurance companies and society.

Sectra OneScreen will be demonstrated at Sectra’s booth 9117 at RSNA.

About osteoporosis

• Some 200 million people are estimated to suffer from osteoporosis.
• The disease is caused by an imbalance in the remodeling of the skeleton, which in turn can be caused, for example, by an unhealthy lifestyle, genetic factors or drugs used to treat other diseases.
• Nine million osteoporosis-related fractures, primarily radio carpal, hip and vertebra fractures, occur annually.
• Affects one in three women, and one in five men, over the age of 50.
• One of the diseases that causes the highest economic burden for healthcare.

Source: International Osteoporosis Foundation http://www.iofbonehealth.org/

For further information, please contact:
Dr. Torbjörn Kronander, President, Sectra Imtec AB, 46 705 23 52 27
Dr. Jan-Olof Brüer, CEO and President, Sectra AB, 46 13 23 52 09
Pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/sectramedicalsystems
Press room: www.sectra.com/medical/press/osteoporosis
Video: www.sectra.com/onescreen/demo

About Sectra
Sectra develops and sells IT systems and sevices for radiology, mammography and orthopaedics. More than 1,100 hospitals, clinics and imaging centers worldwide use the systems daily, together performing over 55 million radiology examinations annually. This makes Sectra one of the world-leading companies within systems for handling digital radiology images. In Scandinavia, Sectra is the market leader with more than 50% of all film-free installations. Sectra’s systems have been installed in North America, Scandinavia and most major countries in Europe and the Far East.

Sectra was founded in 1978 and has its roots in Linköping University in Sweden. The company’s business operation includes cutting-edge products and services within the niche segments of medical systems and secure communication systems. Sectra has offices in 12 countries and operates through partners worldwide. Sales in the 2010/2011 fiscal year totaled SEK 784 million. The Sectra share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB exchange. For more information, visit www.sectra.com

About 3R Réseau Radiologique Romand Group
The 3R Réseau Radiologique Romand Group is an independent Swiss group of radiology and medical imaging centres. The group was founded and is chaired by Dr Dominique Fournier, specialist FMH in radiology and radiodiagnosis and former associate physician at CHUV in Lausanne. For more information, visit http://www.groupe3r.ch/

Tags: