Superior and compassionate breast care with cutting edge technology

Vestfold Hospital in Norway

One of the First Breast Care Units In the World to Go All Digital

It was a bold decision for Vestfold Hospital in Norway to establish an all-digital breast care unit in 2002. Digital breast imaging was in its infancy, and few breast centers in Scandinavia, indeed few in the world, were completely digital.

The center had originally planned to purchase one digital mammography system and a computed radiography system. However, a financial analysis found the site could more than break even with two digital mammography systems and a prone breast biopsy system. One digital mammography unit would be dedicated to breast screening; the second would be reserved for diagnostic cases. The addition of a prone biopsy table would ensure that optimal patient care could be achieved.

Criteria and motivations were diverse. Hospital radiologists wanted to acquire the best image quality and give optimal patient comfort. The hospital administrators wanted a system that would evolve as the Center’s patient population grew while putting up with very heavy usage for the Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Program.

After a thorough review of the available technologies, Vestfold chose the Hologic Selenia digital mammography system. The decision to go with Hologic technology was based on the quality of their selenium detector images and the size of their detector (the system’s field of view is one of the largest available).

The researchers found that the detection rate for DCIS and PPV were statistically significantly higher and the technical recall rate was statistically lower for Selenia over film.

“We believe strongly in the [Hologic Selenia] detector,” said Dr. Einar Vigeland, the leading consultant radiologist at the breast care unit in Vestfold. “We have a strong belief that we’ve chosen the right system and that this is the solution for the future.”

Also important was the integration of mammography into the radiology department’s existing PACS. At Vestfold, mammograms are both archived and presented on soft copy workstations using the PACS. They are made available electronically throughout the radiology department.