Application Shown To Increase Lung Nodule Detection

Using a bone suppression application with chest x-rays significantly increases the detection of lung nodules proven to be primary lung cancer, according to a peer-reviewed study funded by Riverain Medical, a provider of computer-aided detection (CAD) and advanced visualization technologies. Conducted at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and led by Matthew Freedman, MD, associate professor of oncology at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, the reader study involved a comparison of lung nodule detection by radiologists viewing standard chest X-rays alone and in tandem with Riverain Medical's SoftView® bone suppression application for enhanced chest imaging. The application utilizes patent-pending machine learning and image processing algorithms to suppress the ribs and clavicles that obscure nodules that may be early-stage lung cancer. 

In the course of the study, 15 radiologists analyzed 368 chest X-rays, interpreting each standard chest X-ray to locate lung nodules and subsequently reviewing the bone-suppressed image. Freedman and his co-authors concluded that participating radiologists’ detection of lung cancers and benign nodules radiologists “significantly increased” when the bone suppression technology was used. Moreover, Freedman and his co-authors write, 74% of the additional cancers found when reviewing the SoftView images were in difficult-to- view areas with 70% or greater bone and nodule overlap. They add that the application consequently helped clinicians to decide whether to suggest additional diagnostic testing, including CT and lung biopsy.