Other modalities

While mammography is still considered the gold standard of breast imaging, as many as one in five cancers are still overlooked on the traditional mammography, creating a need for the use of other modalities to assist.
"A lot of women hear about all the different modalities, whether it be MR, CT, PET-and they come in and ask for an ultrasound or MRI instead of a mammogram," says Destounis, "but the most accessible screening test is the mammogram. It's easy, takes only a few minutes and is in every corner in any town or city."

New breast imaging technologies, such as breast MRI and automatic breast volume ultrasound, are entering the market and compete with/compliment digital mammography, thereby creating a complete Women's Health solution approach for patients.

"With digital images, we are now easily able to compare to other modalities, such as MRI and ultrasound; therefore the focus now changes from the mammography gantry to cross-modality capabilities and data management," says Radtke. "As new clinical applications enter the market, new digital mammography platforms are necessary to support future applications, such as tomosynthesis."

Change in Used Market

It was only a few years ago when used mammography equipment was almost exclusively analog since there was very little digital equipment coming into this market. And while many of the refurbishers and used dealers still have a lot of analog equipment to move, the demand is quickly turning.

"Domestically, digital mammography dominates the market even in small clinics and rural hospitals. This has been a huge change from where the market was three years ago," says Lowe. "Patients are seeking and choosing clinics that have digital technology . . . many of the sites we are working with are switching due to the demand from their patients."

David Denholtz, CEO of Integrity Medical Systems, Inc., says that 75% to 80% of the mammography equipment they sell now is digital.

"Many facilities that want to switch can't, as the economics are not there," he says. "Mammography is offered oftentimes as a loss-leader. Also, the liability of offering mammography as a service is the highest of any modality."

Metropolis International has seen 50% of its used mammography business switch to digital as customers gravitate towards the newer digital systems because of increased public awareness towards breast cancer and the ways to detect it.




"There are a lot of used analog systems on the market, a lot more than the market can handle and thus prices have dropped rapidly," says Leon Gugel, President of Metropolis International. "On the user side, reimbursements are low and doctors are incorporating mammography services with other imaging systems instead of having a stand alone woman's center, this way the cost of the digital unit is recovered faster and spread over more years."

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