Sectra's low-dose digital mammography system to be in study at St. Göran's Hospital, Stockholm

Sectra's low-dose digital mammography system to be in study at St. Göran's Hospital, Stockholm The Swedish IT and medical technology company Sectra has signed an agreement with Access Radiologi Sverige AB. The agreement means that the first trials in clinical environment of Sectra's new digital mammography system, Sectra MicroDose Mammography, will be performed at St. Göran's Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. This revolutionary digital mammography system, which has been developed in collaboration with Mamea Imaging AB, produces images of very high resolution using a considerably lower radiation dose compared to traditional methods. "It's going to be very exciting to evaluate Sectra's MicroDose Mammography," says Karin Leifland, MD, PhD, director of the mammography department at St. Göran's hospital, former secretary of Swedish Society of Breast Imaging. "We've been following its development closely and have great confidence in the technology. Now we'll finally have the chance to see the results with our own eyes." The study will start in October. Other research institutions in Europe and the US will also implement early clinical analyses of the Sectra system. "All laboratory tests show that our system is delivering a promising performance in the form of high quality images, combined with a very low radiation dose. The next step is to implement a series of trials in clinical environment, in order to verify these results, and it is only in clinical use at a hospital that the system will be able to really show what it can do, " explains Torbjörn Kronander, President of Sectra Imtec. "We will also get confirmation that the system is accepted by the staff, especially from an ergonomic point of view", he adds. Sectra is planning to deliver the first mass-produced units to mammography departments in 2002. The requirements on image quality within mammography are very high. Sectra is the first in the world to develop a mammography system based on a completely new digital technology which, according to the preliminary results, makes it possible to achieve the same image resolution and quality as the current film-based system, but with a five times lower dose of radiation. There are already other digital mammography systems on the market, but they require in some cases up to ten times the radiation dose required by the Sectra system. The dose of ionised radiation is an important consideration when one is exposing large numbers of healthy women to radiation. There is EU legislation stipulating that health services may not expose patients to a higher dose of radiation than is technically possible. Sectra has created enormous international interest in the new technology, and will present the new system at the world's largest radiology trade fair, RSNA 2001, in Chicago on 25-30 November. Sectra is one of the global leaders within IT systems for digital radiology equipment and the company's medical system is used across the world. Using Sectra's system, many hospitals are today working entirely without X-ray film. Sectra has the largest percentage of installations in Sweden, the country that has gone the furthest in the transition to digital radiology, and in the USA (through partners). Sectra's system is also used in, for example, Germany, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. For further information, please contact: Sectra Imtec AB, Torbjörn Kronander, President, +46 705 23 52 27, to-kro@sectra.se or Sectra AB, Jan-Olof Brüer, President and CEO, +46 13 23 52 09, job@sectra.se Visit our website http://www.sectra.com Sectra's operations Sectra has its roots in Linköping Technical University and is one of Sweden's fastest growing high-tech companies in the IT area. Since the mid-1980s, Sectra has successfully conducted development and sales of high-technology medical IT and telecommunications products. Today, the business includes products in medical systems, secure communication systems and wireless information systems. Sectra's medical business is conducted in Sectra Imtec AB, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sectra AB. Internationally, Sectra PACS is marketed and sold through different partners. Business is conducted in six countries with a total of 195 employees. Sales for the fiscal year May 2000-April 2001 reached SEK 292 million. Since March 1999, Sectra's shares have been quoted on the O list of the OM Stockholm Exchange. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/09/18/20010918BIT00050/bit0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/09/18/20010918BIT00050/bit0001.pdf