GE Healthcare showcased its SensorySuite “cocoon” experience at RSNA 2013. This 3-D fully-immersive video simulates SensorySuite by plunging participants into the overall SensorySuite patient experience. SensorySuite surrounds a woman with an interactive mammography experience designed to simultaneously stimulate three senses; sight, smell and hearing, helping to distract the patient from the perceived discomfort, pain and anxiety of a mammogram.
“Sensory Suite exemplifies our vision by capturing the essence of a woman’s sense of serenity through a calming, surreal environment while facilitating the completion of her exam with the most state-of-the-art mammography unit,” said Kathy Schilling, M.D., medical director and Shakira Sarquis-Kolber, director, Women’s Imaging Boca Raton, Fla. “It is the perfect combination of high-tech and high-touch.”
“During the mammogram, our patients are generally stressed and tense,” said André Crèvecoeur, M.D., CEO of Center of Senology, Liége, Belgium. “They fear in one hand that it will hurt and in the other hand the result. We acquired SensorySuite seven months ago, and we had very positive feedback from our patients.”
A recent study performed with 250 patients in two different SensorySuite sites showed that 64.4 percent of women felt relaxed during the mammogram examination, and 99.6 percent of all the patients were likely to return to the same facility for their next mammogram.
“Mammograms play an essential role in the early detection of breast cancer and therefore, survival rate – and yet, statistics show that 1 out of 4 women avoid getting mammograms,” said Prahlad Singh, general manager of Women’s Health at GE Healthcare.
By giving women the control to choose from one of three environmental ambiances - seaside, garden or waterfall, SensorySuite aims to encourage better overall mammography, cooperation and compliance. SensorySuite is available for use with existing or new Senographe Essential, Senographe Care or Senographe DS systems.