VIENNA, AUSTRIA (PRWEB) MARCH 02, 2016 -- The ability of Volpara Solutions’ volumetric breast density and analytics data to help maintain accuracy and consistent quality in breast screening is the focus of numerous abstracts accepted for presentation at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) meeting, March 2-6, 2016. (Booth #623). Eight studies – six posters and two oral presentations – highlight the use of Volpara's automated breast density and quantitative breast imaging software tools to provide breast density results correlated to the 4th and 5th Editions of the BI-RADS Atlas, to monitor temporal changes in breast density, and improve mammographic compression and positioning.
Breast density is associated with increased risk in BRCA carriers; however, the relationship between oopherectomy and breast density and which method of breast density interpretation is best for temporal change has not been investigated. In the presentation, “Decrease of breast density in BRCA patients following oophorectomy using Volpara software,” (SS 1502) researchers from the Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris used VolparaDensity and visual assessment by radiologists to track changes in mammographic breast density in 50 BRCA positive patients undergoing risk reducing oophorectomy surgery. The study found a significant decrease in volumetric breast density following surgery and the degree of change was larger in younger patients. Using the Volpara Density Grades categories (VDG; analogous to BI-RADS density categories), 84% of women displayed a decrease in density category over the study period compared to only 76% using the visual BI-RADS classification. These results suggest that VolparaDensity is more sensitive to temporal changes in breast density over time compared to visual assessment.
In the scientific exhibit, “Optimizing VolparaDensity’s volumetric breast density thresholds to align with the ACR BIRADS 5th edition updates” (#4745), Volpara conducted a reader study to evaluate whether the cutoffs used by VolparaDensity to assign automated BI-RADS density categories needed to be updated to reflect changes made in the 5th edition lexicon. In the study, 294 mammographic studies were read by five experienced U.S. radiologists using the updated 5th edition definitions and compared to the 4th edition Volpara Density Grades and found an agreement of 75% (kw 0.792) with the median radiologist score. By using the maximum volumetric breast density and altering the threshold between VDG1 and 2, the agreement with radiologists was improved to 79% (kw 0.816). Based on this data, the U.S. FDA recently awarded a 510(k) clearance for VolparaDensity to provide breast density results correlated to the 4th and 5th Editions of the BI-RADS Atlas.
