How ISO standards contribute to successful breast cancer screening

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, both in the developed and the developing world. Early detection of breast cancer is one of the best methods to improve survival rate. This can be done in two ways - by hand and by using mammography screening.

A mammogram is an X-ray exam of the breasts to look for abnormal changes. The results can go directly into a computer and become a digital image ready to be read and analyzed by a radiologist.

ISO has developed a number of International Standards to support digital imaging, in particular ISO 12052:2006, Health informatics – Digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) including workflow and data management. This standard allows digital images and related information to be exchanged and managed by the many different medical imaging devices and IT systems, from many different vendors, that are in use today. Without it, the operation of a modern radiology department would not be possible.

As Kevin O'Donnell, one of the experts in the ISO Technical Committee that develops and maintains ISO 12052, explained: "Thanks to the standard, images can be read on any equipment. The DICOM format allows these images to be uploaded and reviewed wherever they are taken. Being able to compare current images to prior images to get a sense of changes and progression, or lack thereof, is vital for radiologists and oncologists."

Allows for increased volume of studies

"Mammography screening is increasingly used to catch breast cancer early and the number of images that a radiologist is expected to read today would be impossible using the old film based workflows. Digital image acquisition and review, which is enabled by ISO 12052, makes modern mammography possible", he explained.
Similarly, the use of the standard has facilitated data handling in the many clinical trials conducted in the area of breast cancer research.

Article & Image Credits: ISO org