March 2, 2017 — Volpara Solutions announced the European launch of Volpara Enterprise 2.0 software, which helps breast imaging facilities deliver high-quality, personalized breast screening. The software was launched at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) meeting, March 1-5, 2017, in Vienna, Austria.
Volpara Enterprise software delivers key performance indicators (KPIs) for hundreds of performance and quality metrics, including patient positioning, compression and equipment utilization. The software provides continuous quality assurance and performance monitoring through dynamic, interactive dashboards, feeding ConstantQuality metrics that are updated with every mammography or tomosynthesis (3-D mammography) exam. The Microsoft Azure-based solution is fully integrated with VolparaDensity software.
Designed to support large or small enterprises, Volpara Enterprise software enables breast centers to perform rapid quality control checks that help optimize the productivity and efficiency of imaging resources. This in turn helps decrease costs through the reduction of retakes, increases employee effectiveness and enhances the patient experience.
Updates to VolparaEnterprise 2.0 software include:
- New infographics and analytics tools to help improve understanding of resource utilization and performance and provide better understanding of the patient population and referral patterns;
- The new technologist dashboard enables each radiographer to monitor her own performance and self-train to fix positioning and compression problems;
- The lead radiographer now sees a Quality Quadrant diagram that summarizes patient positioning and compression performance by each radiographer, helping to identify training opportunities; and
- The broader use of infographics on each new role-specific landing page makes data quicker and easier to summarize and interpret.
“Adding VolparaEnterprise software has enabled us to implement new quality processes that will help ensure that every woman’s mammogram is the best that we can offer. Being able to pull data that has been hidden, we’re able to improve the practice’s efficiencies and effectiveness, which will help improve outcomes. We owe that to our patients,” said Kathy Schilling, M.D., medical director, Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute in Florida.
Volpara Solutions is showcasing its entire suite of quantitative breast imaging tools at ECR.
The ability of analytics data from VolparaEnterprise software to help maintain accuracy and consistent quality in breast screening is the focus of numerous abstracts and educational sessions accepted for presentation at the ECR, including:
- “Large variation in mammography compression internationally.” This poster presents an overview of breast compression across 15 countries from Australasia, Europe, and North and South America. There is a wide variation in compression between countries, which may arise both from patient-specific differences and disparities in the compression behavior of the technologists. Standardized monitoring of compression, such as done with VolparaEnterprise, can help to reduce such discrepancies, according to the company;
- “Determination of adequate breast tissue visualisation using an automated posterior nipple line measure.” This poster describes automated measurement of the posterior nipple line (PNL). Good breast positioning is crucial for optimal cancer detection, but difficult to assess manually. The automated method proved robust in comparison to gold-standard manual measurement of the PNL and provides an important quality metric to monitor operator performance; and
- “Grade, size, invasive status and breast density of screen-detected and interval cancers in breast screening in the U.K.” This analysis of 3,771 U.K. women reveals that women presenting with interval cancers have a Volpara Density Grade that is 2.1 percent higher than women with screen-detected cancers. Interval cancers arise between regular mammography exams and tend to be aggressive and have a poor prognosis. Interval cancers also prove to be of higher grade, larger size and are more likely to be invasive, according to the study.
For more information: www.volparasolutions.com