Fischer Imaging Receives NCI Grant

DENVER & CHICAGO, Dec. 2 -- Fischer Imaging announced it has received a $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to fund an effort with IBM to evaluate IBM's T221 flat-panel display as part of Fischer's SenoScan digital mammography review workstation.

Roman Janer, senior vice president of engineering for Fischer Imaging, said, "The T221's 9-megapixel display, with a resolution of 3840 by 2400 pixels, is the highest resolution display ever produced and provides a high luminance and sharpness that we believe will help radiologists diagnose very small breast cancers. We believe this will help radiologists review digital mammograms faster and with improved accuracy.

Ehsan Samei, PhD, an assistant professor at Duke University and chairman of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine's task force on standards for medical displays, will also work on the grant program. Fischer Imaging will display the SenoScan incorporating the IBM 9-megapixel display at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting, to be held Nov. 30-Dec. 5 in Chicago.

After a clinical evaluation and study of the new workstation at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in early 2004, the workstation is expected to be submitted to the FDA for marketing clearance in the second half of 2004, Fischer said.

The company also announced that the FDA has given approved the use R2 Technology's mammography CAD technology with its SenoScan system. Under a development and marketing agreement, Fischer Imaging has integrated R2's CAD technology into its SenoScan system and has exclusive distribution rights to the integrated system. In addition, R2 Technology's ImageChecker DM analog system, which received FDA clearance in September 2003, also will support CAD analysis of digital images acquired on the SenoScan system. The ImageChecker DM System will be distributed directly by Fischer and R2.

For more information, visit: www.fischerimaging.com