University of Colorado Hospital
At the Forefront of Lung Cancer Detection
University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) is the largest multi-specialty practice in the region and a leading tertiary care center. Peter B. Sachs, M.D., Section Chief of Thoracic Imaging and Vice Chair of Informatics for UCH and Anschutz Medical Campus, joined the hospital system in January 2010. An advocate of soft tissue imaging, he had considerable experience with dual energy subtraction (DES) from his prior institution, but had not yet tried Riverain Technologies’ software, which can produce a bone-suppressed image from any conventional chest X-ray image. Dr. Sachs encouraged the institution to become an evaluation site for Riverain software in the spring of 2011. “My personal feeling is that anyone reading chest films needs some type of bone suppression support,” said Dr. Sachs.
ClearRead Xray Bone Suppress software immediately enhances any adult chest X-ray image after capture from any machine. It seamlessly integrates into any digital radiology department, offering universal connectivity with existing PACS, and can be used to improve the visibility and detection rates of focal densities, including nodules.
Providing a Fleet-Agnostic Solution
Bone Suppress is a software-only solution, easily applied across all studies, without hardware or device restrictions. “One of the huge advantages to Bone Suppress is that there is no additional radiation exposure,” Dr. Sachs said. “You can use it on every single study — and we do.” The result, he said, has been improved lung nodule detection, including finding cancers that otherwise could have been missed. “In our practice we absolutely have had proven cancers where, when we were reading the study, we did not see them until we looked at the bone-suppressed image.”
Within the first four months of deployment, more than 20,000 X-rays were evaluated by UCH radiologists. Readers found Bone Suppress helped with confident clinical decisions and speeding their reading times.
“Bone Suppress speeds me up a bit,” said Dr. Sachs. “Because I have the suppressed image I can actually spend a little less time looking at the conventional image, or trying to reason through difficult areas on the conventional image. If I think there might be a lesion hiding behind a rib I can go to the bone suppression and, most of the time, feel comfortable that I have an answer.”
Extended Use Outside of Nodule Detection
Bone Suppress is also helping UCH radiologists spot other conditions. “It’s good for finding subtle pneumonias and subtle pneumothorax,” Dr. Sachs said.
Riverain Technologies credits the feedback from the evaluation sites and experts such as UCH and Dr. Sachs with significantly influencing the direction and refinement of chest X-ray applications.
Dr. Sachs received no compensation from Riverain Technologies for his participation in this showcase.
