Looking ahead with 20/20: Our vision for the future of breast health
Agnes Berzsenyi, President & CEO, Women’s Health & X-ray, GE Healthcare
As an industry, healthcare technology thrives on innovation. We’re always in pursuit of the next big thing - creative ideas that improve workflow for clinicians and redefine the patient experience.
It’s been twenty years since digital mammography transformed breast cancer screening for women. Reflecting on this, it made me consider our journey of providing personalized breast care – where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we’re going.
In 1969, the world was introduced to the film-based mammogram. For the first time, radiologists were able to see breast images in a new way on a piece of dedicated x-ray technology for breast imaging, changing the women’s health industry as we knew it.
In 2000, the FDA cleared the first digital mammogram, now allowing images to be stored and optimized on a computer, reducing the number of scans needed and improving clinical workflow.
In 2011, GE Healthcare introduced contrast enhanced spectral mammography, providing information to the radiologist in less than 7 minutes with its new imaging technique to help diagnose in one appointment and one setting. new imaging technique.[1] The same year, 3D mammography exam entered the scene, providing 3D images of the breast to enhance viewing capabilities for radiologists.
Now in 2020, GE Healthcare has shipped its 2000th Senographe Pristina with Dueta, recognized by TIME magazine as one of the best 100 inventions in 2019, distinguished by its patient-focused design and the industry’s first wireless remote for patients to control breast compression under a technologist supervision. Today, we’re in pursuit of driving a personalized breast care experience for patients worldwide by offering options for women depending on their individual risks and needs.
Looking ahead, the future is exciting. We’ve watched as the global pandemic has expedited progress in artificial intelligence, workflow enhancements enabled by data, and product design focused on user and patient experience. Our vision of providing personalized breast health continues to drive us forward, delivering the industry’s first contrast enhanced biopsy solution, recently cleared by the FDA, that allows patients to be biopsied on the same equipment they receive their mammogram on, to help reduce the time and anxiety associated with breast biopsies.[2]
We are all familiar with the passion and dedication it takes to deliver innovation.
Our task at hand is not a small one but reflecting on the progress we’ve made in providing more women access, comfort, and confidence in their breast health journey over the past 50 years alone is something to be proud of. I look forward to seeing what our commitment to innovation and dedication to improving the lives of patients will bring in the next 50 years.
[1] Data on file GE Healthcare 2017.
[2] Accessed on 7/27/2020: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf19/K193334.pdf