TeraRecon unveils new breast MRI analysis tools

TeraRecon has released a time-intensity analysis tool for breast MRI studies as a standard feature on its AquariusNET thin-client server, with advanced pre-processing options available for the recently introduced AquariusAPS server.

The announcement falls just after the American Cancer Society (ACS) put out new cancer screening guidelines for women at different defined levels of risk of developing breast cancer. ACS recommends screening MRI for women with an approximately 20-25 percent or greater lifetime risk of breast cancer.

"The recent ACS statement underscores the need for efficient and widely accessible evaluation tools for breast MRI," said Robert Taylor, chief operating officer and executive vice president of TeraRecon. He added that the AquariusNET provides a fully volumetric review environment supporting any oblique plane, and that with the “simple addition of the AquariusAPS server and its Parametric Maps module, women's imaging centers and radiology departments can increase efficiency,” at a lower price than previously available.

When using the AquariusNET software, regions of interest (ROIs) can be defined and plots generated showing time-dependent behavior. For a scan where a lesion enhances and then de-enhances over time, the analysis tool plots a curve showing the characteristics of temporal behavior in that ROI. When using AquariusAPS, the optional Parametric Maps module can be automatically applied to datasets to obtain automatic registration and subtraction of the data, followed by color-map encoding of each pixel according to its temporal behavior.

This color overlay can assist physicians in assessing tissue characteristics at a glance. Physicians can import, access, and display these large multi-phase datasets from regular PCs using the AquariusNET thin-client software. The software can display breast MRI studies in a fully volumetric view in any oblique plane desired as well as side-by-side, multi-phase, and 4D double oblique views with localized measurement capabilities. With this import and display feature, outside examinations on digital media from any institution can be easily compared.

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