For Immediate Release:
October 16, 2000

Contact: Michael Baum
(301) 975-2763

Data acquisition system for NIST mammographic x-ray instrument calibration range

Mammograms have become significantly more accurate during the past decade due to a variety of clinical improvements, including several from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration.

The American Cancer Society reminds women of the importance of mammography for breast cancer screening every October, which since 1996 has been designated National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. ACS guidelines recommend that all women over age 40 get annual mammograms to screen for breast cancer.

NIST contributions have helped make mammography more reliable. Here's how:

Women undergoing mammography exams at accredited U.S. clinics are assured of receiving proper X-ray exposure due to a NIST mammography radiation standard and instrument calibration facility. Using special X-ray reference beams, NIST transfers its calibrations to the instruments Food and Drug Administration inspectors use to measure X-ray exposure in mammography clinics. Instrument manufacturers also calibrate testing devices at NIST. Available since 1996, NIST mammography standards help ensure that clinical exposures are within regulatory limits.

A NIST invention could help improve image quality in mammography by calibrating the electrical voltage that generates x-rays in a mammography unit. Available for licensing, the device measures electrical voltage very accurately when placed in the X-ray beam. The NIST-patented device tells whether the actual voltage agrees with the radiologist's prescribed voltage and is about 10 times more accurate than other field calibration methods. It also measures the types of X-rays in the beam. Accurate knowledge of the X- ray beam parameters is necessary to optimize film contrast and improve the ability to locate tumors while minimizing radiation dose.

An advanced digital mammography system, now commercially available from GE Medical Systems, offers greater sensitivity and image quality than conventional mammography. NIST helped bring digital mammography to clinical use through its Advanced Technology Program. GE and Perkin Elmer (then EG&G Reticon) won ATP co-funding in 1995 to develop a new process to dramatically reduce the cost of manufacturing the amorphous silicon detector panels for the system. The result is that this improved mammography system is now more affordable and available to a greater number of women.

NIST innovations have helped improve many other areas of medicine from diagnostic tests and treatments to manufacturing and quality of health care products. To learn more, see "A Measure of Confidence: NIST and Quality in Health Care."

Created: October 13, 2000
Last updated October 13, 2000 by Crissy Robinson.