Fuji News

Quality of Fuji FFDM images a key selection criterion

Chicago, IL - November 26, 2006 - FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA is pleased to announce that its digital mammography system has been selected by two highly regarded breast imaging organizations: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC), and Solis Women's Health, Austin, TX (formerly Women's Diagnostic of Texas). Fuji's digital mammography solution has long been the world's most widely used Full Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) solution, and is already making a notable impact on the FFDM market in the United States.

"When launching Fuji digital mammography in the US following our FDA approval, we were confident of our unique position to meet the individual needs of all breast imaging facilities, small and large," announced Andrew Vandergrift, National Marketing Manager, Women's Healthcare Imaging. "We're incredibly pleased to report today that UNC, a leading academic center, has made Fuji FFDM its first post-DMIST FFDM implementation. And the selection of Fuji by Solis Women's Health affirms how well our technology can perform in a large, distributed private practice environment."

Last fall the Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST) found digital mammograms to be more accurate than film screen mammograms for significant sub-groups of the screening population. Fuji Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm) FFDM was the second most used system in the landmark clinical study of 49,528 women.

"UNC was of course one of the acquisition sites for DMIST, and as such we had the opportunity to be one of the very first facilities in the United States to use Fuji's FFDM," said Dr. Etta D. Pisano, Kenan Professor and Director UNC Biomedical Research Imaging Center and lead author of the study. "Since completing the study I've been a firm believer that FDA approval and availability of Fuji's system would likely speed adoption of digital mammography in the US. At UNC we've just installed our first Fuji system and are planning for a phased roll-out of the technology at several of the University's other breast imaging facilities."

With six breast centers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex, and acquisitions underway in other areas of the nation, Solis Women's Health is one of the nation's leading providers of breast screening and diagnostic services. In common with other breast imaging facilities, Solis was looking to acquire FFDM technology that could provide the highest level of image quality. Solis, however, had the additional requirement of setting a standard for both the conversion of its current facilities and for its future sites as the company pursues an aggressive growth strategy.

According to Brad Hummel, CEO of Solis Women's Health, "Our team did a thorough evaluation of all available FFDM systems. The general nature of our practice model dictates that we'll be working with unique facilities across the country, all of which have diverse staffs of technologists and dedicated breast radiologists, many of whom will be using digital mammography for the very first time. Fuji emerged as a clear leader in their ability to provide both the image quality we were confident in as well as the technical training and solid corporate service and support that we need as we continue to acquire additional centers of excellence."

Timothy Freer, MD, Chief Medical Officer, and the physician founder of Solis, added: "Our principal criteria were the quality of the image and the quality of the patient experience. In these we found the superior imaging performance of the FCRm, and the high-touch technologist-patient relationship to be persuasive."

UNC and Solis Women's Health are just two of the hundreds of breast imaging organizations that have or are expected to install Fuji FFDM in the coming year.

About FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc.
As one of the FUJIFILM Corporation family of companies with 70 years of imaging experience and almost $25 billion in sales, FUJIFILM Medical Systems is a leading provider of diagnostic imaging products and network systems to meet the needs of healthcare facilities today and well into the future. Fuji's family of Imaging Systems products and technologies-including digital x-ray, women's healthcare imaging, dry imagers, and conventional x-ray film and equipment-are tailored to suit many different applications for a variety of imaging environments. Fuji Computed Radiography for Mammography (FCRm) has long been the world's most widely used Full Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) solution, and is already making a notable impact on the FFDM market in the United States since receiving FDA approval. Fuji is headquartered in Stamford, CT.