The V3D Colon software is the first product of its kind to receive FDA pre-market notification approval for the laboratory screening to detect colon cancers, providing scientists and lab technicians with a powerful tool in the fight against colorectal cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 56,600 men and women in the US will die from colorectal cancers this year. Second only to lung cancer, colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States.
V3D Colon software offers a virtual colonoscopy workflow. Images of the patient's abdomen and pelvis area are taken using a CAT scan while the colon is inflated, automatically generating a 3D model. Using one of the software's tools, the reader can assess how much of the colon surface has been visualised to ensure the entire colon surface has been examined.
Beginning in the third quarter of 2005, Kodak's Health Group will offer Viatronix V3D Colon software worldwide as both an optional enhancement to the Kodak Directview PACS System 5 or as a separate dedicated workstation. Additional details of the two-year agreement were not disclosed.
"The collaborative relationship we have with Viatronix has resulted in extending the capabilities of our PACS platform to help scientists realise improvements in workflow without the need for single purpose workstations usually required to view colonoscopy images," said Michael Jackman, general manager of Healthcare Information Systems and vice president, Kodak's Health Group.
V3D comes ready to use as a "turn-key" system. No setup or extensive computer knowledge is required, although all users must be trained in the use of V3D. All of the necessary hardware and software needed for interactive virtual diagnosis, based on your obtained CT Colonography images, is contained in V3D.
Kodak's PACS System 5 is a flexible, scalable platform for the management and storage of digital medical images and information used at medical laboratories of all sizes around the world.
The system makes it possible to distribute information from one destination to another securely via the Internet, thus facilitating and expediting communications between medical laboratories and research scientists.