BOCA RATON, FL – June 28, 2017 – GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) has collaborated with Boca Raton Regional Hospital
to bring a more comfortable mammography system, Senographe Pristina™
to patients with next-generation 3D digital mammography technology. Boca
Raton Regional Hospital is the first installation of Senographe Pristina
in the U.S.
“Senographe Pristina offer patients a reinvented mammography experience,
one that had not significantly changed for the last 40 years,” said
Kathy Schilling, MD, Medical Director at the Hospital’s Christine
E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute. “After having
a mammogram on Senographe Pristina, women immediately recognize a pleasant
difference: it’s a faster and quieter exam with greater comfort
and less pain during compression.”
Commenting further, Dr. Schilling noted, “Our goal is for all our
baseline patients to have their mammograms with this new technology with
the intent that it will help to dismiss any preconceived fears and encourage
more compliance with annual screening.”
Senographe Pristina was designed to completely revolutionize the patient
experience to make it more comfortable. The gentle, rounded corners of
the image detector help reduce patient discomfort under the arms. New,
comfortable armrests replace conventional handgrips which may cause tensing
of the pectoral muscles, making it hard to properly position the tissue.
In addition, the redesigned armrest allows women to gently support their
arm during the exam in a relaxed position making the exam more appealing.
Improper positioning has been found to be the cause of poor image quality
that can then require a rescan(1), and the lack of proper positioning
may decrease mammography sensitivity(2). By improving patient comfort,
the technologists can focus on providing the highest quality exam for
the radiologist to interpret.
The Women’s Institute at Boca Regional has a long history of collaboration
with GE Healthcare. Performing over 90,000 screening and diagnostic breast
exams a year, it has a robust portfolio of imaging equipment to address
each woman’s unique healthcare needs. The Institute has also put
an emphasis on the patient experience by creating a spa-like atmosphere
throughout the facility. This is especially noticeable in the mammography
suites where the air is infused with a light, calming fragrance, while
flat-screen wall monitors display soothing videos and photos, and project
relaxing sounds to create a serene environment.
“At GE Healthcare, we are committed to helping bring screening and
diagnostic technology to more women,” said Agnes Berzsenyi, president
and CEO of Women’s Health, GE Healthcare. “We know that the
key reason women don’t go for mammograms is fear of pain. We designed
Senographe Pristina to make the experience more comfortable and to lower
women’s anxiety. Our hope is that a more comfortable experience
will help more women get a screening exam and find cancer early when it
is most treatable.”
GE Healthcare recently received pre-market approval for 3D technology on
Senographe Pristina. This technology, also known as digital breast tomosynthesis,
delivers superior diagnostic accuracy at the same low dose as a 2D mammography
exam, the lowest patient dose of all FDA approved 3D mammography systems.(3)
About Boca Raton Regional Hospital - Advancing the boundaries of medicine.
Boca Raton Regional Hospital is an advanced, tertiary medical center (BRRH.com)
with 400 beds and more than 800 primary and specialty physicians on staff.
The Hospital is a recognized leader in oncology, cardiovascular disease
and surgery, minimally invasive surgery, orthopedics, women’s health,
emergency medicine and the neurosciences, all of which offer state-of-the-art
diagnostic and imaging capabilities. The Hospital is a designated Comprehensive
Stroke Center by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services
to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable
healthcare around the world. GE Healthcare (NYSE: GE) works on things
that matter - great people and technologies taking on tough challenges.
From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics
to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance
improvement solutions GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver
great healthcare to their patients. http://www.gehealthcare.com
Media Contact:
Alexandra Schilling, 561.955.4706
Communications Specialist
aschilling@brrh.com
Amanda Gintoft, 414.412.7062
GE Healthcare
Amanda.gintoft@ge.com
1 U.S. Food and Drug Administration http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/MammographyQualityStandardsActandProgram/FacilityScorecard/ucm495378.htm
2 Taplin SH, Rutter CM, Finder C, et al. Screening Mammography: Clinical
Image Quality and the Risk of Interval Breast Cancer. AJR 2002; 178: 797-80
3 GE screening protocol consists of 3D CC/MLO + V-Preview CC/MLO, V-Preview
is the 2D synthesized image generated by GE Seno Iris mammography software
from GE DBT images. FDA PMA P130020
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfPMA/pma.cfm, Data
on file. Average glandular dose in digital mammography and digital breast
tomosynthesis: comparison of phantom and patient data. Bouwman, R. W.
and al., et. 2015, Physics in Medicine & Biology, pp. 7893-7907.