Research Medical Center in Kansas City Deploys iCAD's New Prostate MRI Image Technology

iCAD, Inc., a provider of advanced image analysis and workflow solutions for the early identification of cancer, announced the installation of its VividLook Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) analysis solution for prostate MRI at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, MO.

According to the company, VividLook uses a complex algorithm to provide radiologists and radiation oncologists with precise information to assist in determining malignancies versus benign tumors and to pinpoint tumor location and size.

"Prostate cancer has traditionally been evaluated by digital rectal examination (DRE) in combination with other clinical data including prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests and pathologic information," said John Sheldon, MD, radiation oncologist at Research Medical Center. "By incorporating MRI with CAD to accurately locate sites of cancer from within the complex vasculature of the prostate, we will be better able to determine the extent of prostate cancer in ways that we previously couldn't using CT or biopsy results alone. Armed with this knowledge, we can confidently map our plan of attack in fighting these prolific cancers."

The National Cancer Institute has estimated that in 2008 more than 185,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, 28,660 men will die of prostate cancer, and 1 in 6 men will be affected by this disease over their lifetime. Commonly used diagnostic tests have been shown to have high false positive and false negative rates. In addition, biopsies are blind and random and they can miss at least 20 percent of cancer.

iCAD's VividLook is a post processing software package designed to provide a reliable means of visualizing the presence and pattern of contrast induced enhancement of MR images in the prostate, helping radiologists distinguish benign from malignant lesions. This can be difficult without CAD because many portions of the prostate show large enhancement with contrast MRI alone, making it difficult to identify the real areas of concern. VividLook, iCAD's MR Prostate analysis solution, provides more diagnostic information by utilizing all available time points, creating colorized images based on signal changes defined by tumor physiology.

"Prostate MRI is a relatively new diagnostic tool, and similar to breast MRI for women, can add potentially life-saving enhancement to the diagnosis of disease," said Ken Ferry, President and CEO of iCAD. "iCAD is dedicated to helping clinicians find the most prevalent cancers earlier, faster and with greater confidence. Our CAD technology is instrumental in the analysis of prostate MRI, uncovering potential cancers among the vasculature of the prostate and the thousands of images resulting from an MRI."

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