CHELMSFORD and BOSTON, Mass., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. and Massachusetts General Hospital have been selected for the Advanced Imaging magazine 2006 Imaging Solutions of the Year Award for the Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) solution on which they collaborated.
Using digital data acquired on the General Electric Medical Systems DBT prototype, this method reconstructs a 3D-volume from a series of 2D projection images. Physicians can then "page through" the interior of the breast without the superimposition of the other tissues. However, this method involves vast amounts of computation, which previously took far too long (several hours) to be considered clinically useful. Mercury partnered with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to enhance MGH's innovative DBT technique, using Mercury image processing expertise and mathematical optimizations and incorporating enhanced NVIDIA Quadro(R) professional graphics processor technology. As a result, the image processing time was greatly reduced from five hours to five minutes -- a 60x performance increase -- and high image clarity was preserved.
In the United States, deaths from breast cancer dropped 20 percent over past decade, largely due to widespread screening mammography. Digital breast tomosynthesis' superior ability to display lesions which otherwise might be masked could reinforce early detection and further reduce death rates.
"Mercury reduced reconstruction time from five hours to five minutes, making DBT clinically viable," said Dr. Daniel Kopans, Director of Breast Imaging at MGH. "In initial trials among 70 women diagnosed with breast cancer, DBT pinpointed 7 cases not previously detected with mammography."
Selection of the five Imaging Solutions of the Year recipients was based on uniqueness of the challenge as well as on the creativity of their solution. Categories covered the spectrum from industrial and machine vision through space imaging and image visualization to medical, microscopy, military and commercial applications. In the judges' decisions, a key criterion was the relative advantage conferred by the solution from the user's perspective.
"We are honored to be selected for the 2006 Imaging Solutions of the Year Award, and to be recognized for the work we've accomplished thus far in partnership with MGH," said Marcelo Lima, vice president of Commercial Imaging and Visualization at Mercury.
For more information on the Imaging Solutions of the Year award, visit http://www.advancedimagingpro.com/publication/article.jsp?pubId=1&id=2332. Visit http://www.mc.com/products/view/index.cfm?id=21&type=software for more information on Mercury's DBT solution.
About Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, established in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $450 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, cutaneous biology, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, transplantation biology and photomedicine.
In 1994, MGH and Brigham and Women's Hospital joined to form Partners HealthCare System, an integrated health care delivery system comprising the two academic medical centers, specialty and community hospitals, a network of physician groups, and non-acute and home health services. Visit http://www.mgh.harvard.edu for more information.
About Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.
Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. is the leading provider of high-performance embedded, real-time digital signal and image processing solutions. Mercury's solutions play a critical role in a wide range of applications, transforming sensor data to information for analysis and interpretation. In military reconnaissance and surveillance platforms the Company's systems process real-time radar, sonar, and signals intelligence data. Mercury's systems are also used in state-of-the-art medical diagnostic imaging devices including MRI, PET, and digital X-ray, and in semiconductor imaging applications including photomask generation and wafer inspection. Mercury provides advanced 3D image processing and visualization software and optimized systems to diverse end markets including life sciences, geosciences, and simulation. The Company also provides radio frequency (RF) products for enhanced communications capabilities in military and commercial applications.
Based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Mercury serves customers in North America, Europe and Asia through its direct sales force and a network of subsidiaries and distributors. Visit Mercury on the web at www.mc.com.
Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the Mercury work in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital. You can identify these statements by our use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company's markets, effects of continued geo-political unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology, and methods of marketing, delays in completing engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, continued funding of defense programs, the timing of such funding, changes in the U.S. Government's interpretation of federal procurement rules and regulations, market acceptance of the Company's products, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, and inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses, and achieving anticipated synergies, and difficulties in retaining key customers. These risks and uncertainties also include such additional risk factors as are discussed in the Company's recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2005. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made.
Contacts: Kathy Donahue, Public Relations Manager Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. 978-967-1126 / kdonahue@mc.com Susan McGreevey, Public Affairs Office Massachusetts General Hospital (617) 726-3093
NVIDIA and NVIDIA Quadro are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and other countries. Other product and company names mentioned may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060103/MERCURYCSLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.orgPRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.comMercury Computer Systems, Inc.CONTACT: Kathy Donahue, Public Relations Manager of Mercury ComputerSystems, Inc., +1-978-967-1126, kdonahue@mc.com; or Susan McGreevey, PublicAffairs Office of Massachusetts General Hospital, +1-617-726-3093
Web site: http://www.mc.com//
