Providence, RI (April 3)--Radiologists at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts today released findings from a breast cancer research study designed to evaluate the use of Advanced Image Enhancement, Inc.'s (AIE) software for examining Regions Of Interest (ROI) with Hologic's Lorad Selenia^TM digital mammography system. Leveraging advanced technology for locating and detecting undersea mines for the U.S. Navy, AIE tailored the approach for breast cancer image enhancement.

The study reported that the AIE software allowed the radiologist to reach an opinion with more confidence in 20%-70% of the cases studied, depending upon the radiologist. When asked to rate AIE technology on the ability of the software to improve the conspicuity and detail of calcifications, the radiologist participating in the study rated the software superior in 88% of the cases studied. The report concluded that AIE technology provided a significant advantage for improving clarity of structures in dense breast tissue.


Hologic's Lorad Selenia digital mammography system
and AIE's software
produced this enhanced image

The researchers compared the ROI of a magnified Selenia image with the corresponding magnified ROI of an AIE-enhanced Selenia image for both views (one cranial-caudal (CC) and one mediolateral-oblique (MLO)) of the breast for 50 women presenting with suspicious abnormalities.

"Providing physicians with the technology to see more detail with better clarity is quite valuable," stated Alan Semine, M.D., the study's chief investigator. Dr. Semine is Medical Director of The Auerbach Breast Center and Chief of Breast Imaging at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. "Breast cancer detection still poses many challenges to the physician community. This study highlights the fact that complementary technologies can be very effective in improving the display of visual information inherent in digital mammograms and can ultimately help physicians detect breast cancer more effectively."

The study involved researchers from Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Brigham and Woman's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Faulkner Hospital all in Massachusetts. The study was funded by Aid for Cancer Research and Hologic, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOLX). Hologic is partnering with AIE to develop the algorithms for the digital mammography market.

"The results of this study further validate that AIE image enhancement can be a valuable tool in helping physicians more accurately to detect breast cancer," stated Michael Duarte, CEO of AIE. "This study is a tremendous step forward in our research and development activities. It is our goal to build upon this success in future studies, and highlight our technology and its utility to those physicians. We are also pleased to have partnered with Hologic on this study. Hologic is a world leader in digital mammography. We're looking forward to working with Hologic in bringing this product to commercialization.

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