- Planned integration of MeVis‘ lung screening software for efficient interpretation of CT chest images in comprehensive lung screening solution of industrial customer
- Product release at RSNA in November 2014, the world’s most important annual meeting of American radiologists
- Improved workflow, high diagnostic quality particularly and support of patient management systems particularly with higher caseloads such as in future national lung screening program
- Market potential especially in the US
- First revenues expected in the first quarter 2015
Bremen, August 14, 2014 – MeVis Medical Solutions AG [ISIN: DE000A0LBFE4], a leading provider of medical imaging software, announces, that they signed a contract with an important industrial customer for use of the MeVis’ software for improving the early detection of lung cancer within lung screenings.
Besides prostate, colon and breast cancer, lung cancer is today among the four most common cancers. But since it is noticable relatively late by symptoms and discomfort, an early diagnosis is of essential importance for treatment and the prognosis of patients. Way back there have already been discussions about the possibilities of early detection of lung cancer. And, at least for the U.S., the introduction of appropriate screening programs based on CT images are within reach since mid 2013. In national studies (Early Lung Cancer Action Project – ELCAP and National Lung Screening Trial – NLST) in the United States it has been verified that CT lung screening is far superior in detection of lung cancer at an early stage compared to normal radiography. And thus the responsible Expert Committee (USPSTF) has issued a recommendation for a lung screening in December 2013. Accordingly, a strong increase in lung CT images, which need to be diagnosed, is expected. MeVis assumes that, as a result, there will be an increased demand for solutions that simplify, shorten and improve the quality of this this procedure. An introduction in Europe is also discussed.
MeVis‘ software, the world’s first dedicated software for the efficient diagnosis of images from CT lung screening, combined with a patient management software from the industrial customer and a training solution based on the MeVis Online Academy will be launched initially in the USA. The timely launch is also possible because of the existing approval from the FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration), the moment the software is completed. Especially in areas with higher caseloads, such as lung screening programs, the software solution offers important innovations to improve the workflow and diagnostic quality. Besides an optimized diagnostic workflow, the system includes one-click segmentation of pulmonary nodules, the automatic integration of prior findings, an integrated CAD (Computer-Aided Detection) system, software support for patient management, and a state-of-the-art reporting according to current guidelines (Lung-RADS of the American College of Radiology).
MeVis' already CE and FDA certified CAD software was developed in close cooperation with the renowned Radboud University of Nijmegen and is a reliable support for efficient diagnosis of high-resolution chest CT images. The automatic identification of suspicious lung nodules by validated CAD algorithms leads to clinically proven more reliable findings.
The online education & training portal on the basis of radiological case collections offers customized web-based training opportunities for clinical education and training of thorax radiologists and other healthcare professionals in terms of lung cancer screening and workflow.
MeVis benefits from its many years of extensive experience in relation to screening programs for the early detection of breast cancer. Thus the world's first digital diagnostic system for mammography screening had also been developed by MeVis in the past.
"Through our early decision to develop a dedicated software solution to support lung cancer screenings, we are able to participate in this atttractive growth market at a very early stage.", says Marcus Kirchhoff, CEO of MeVis Medical Solutions AG. "We are pleased to contribute to the early detection and successful treatment of lung cancer.", says Marcus Kirchhoff, CEO of MeVis Medical Solutions AG.
"We are very satisfied that we have already won a significant industrial customer for this product.“, adds Dr. Robert Hannemann, CFO. "We expect the first revenues from this cooperation in the first quarter of 2015."