Fujifilm’s ASPIRE Cristalle Mammography System: A Radiologist’s Personal Experience

Dr. Amy Thurmond credits Fujifilm’s ASPIRE Cristalle with Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (3D Mammography) with detecting her breast cancer.

In May 2019, Amy Thurmond, MD, a radiologist at Women’s Imaging & Intervention in Lake Oswego, Oregon, went to her clinic for her regularly scheduled screening mammogram. It was her first time getting a mammogram with the new ASPIRE Cristalle digital mammography system with Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (3D mammography) from FUJIFILM Medical Systems-U.S.A., Inc.

Dr. Thurmond had no family history of breast cancer, always had normal mammograms, and hadn’t noticed any changes in her breasts since her last mammogram. With nearly 35 years of mammography experience, she wasn’t nervous. In fact, she felt excited to see her own exam results from the ASPIRE Cristalle, which she said produces “beautiful images.”

But those beautiful images showed a spot she’d never seen before.

“The new Fujifilm ASPIRE Cristalle 3D showed a teeny tiny little breast cancer about the size of a pencil eraser that would not have been visible without this new technology,” she said.

Dr. Thurmond immediately scheduled a lumpectomy. And, on the same day as her surgery, she came home and made dinner that night, then went back to work the next day.

“If this new technology had not been available, the tumor probably would’ve gone at least another year before being diagnosed and would have required much more life-altering treatment as opposed to the minimal [treatment] that I needed,” she said. “I am just thrilled and grateful to have this new technology that helps us pick up tiny cancers when they’re much more easily treatable. That’s what we want for all women.”

Sharing her experience as a doctor and as a patient

Dr. Thurmond shared her experience during The Pink Table Brunch, an educational event in June 2019 that helped kick off Fujifilm’s “Aspire to Be Fearless” campaign, a new nationwide awareness effort focused on improving access to breast health education and mammography screening services for every woman who needs them.

At the center of the campaign, Fujifilm will be traveling across the U.S. with its “Aspire to Be Fearless” mobile mammography coach to provide educational opportunities for clinicians, raise awareness about the importance of screening and, together with clinician partners, offer free mammograms to underserved populations. The coach is equipped with a waiting room, a dressing room, the ASPIRE Cristalle 3D digital mammography system with digital breast tomosynthesis, and the ASPIRE Bellus II mammography diagnostic workstation.

 

 

The importance of 3D mammography

Digital breast tomosynthesis is the latest technology aimed at helping to detect breast cancer early. This advanced exam uses X-rays from multiple angles to create a 3D picture of the breast. It allows clinicians to differentiate between layers and reduces obstruction from overlapping layers, which can improve detection sensitivity and reduce false-positive callbacks. Research indicates DBT could make breast cancers easier to see in dense breast tissue and could detect cancer early, when it is most treatable.

ASPIRE Cristalle with DBT incorporates Fujifilm’s state-of-the-art Hexagonal Close Pattern (HCP) detector design, which outperforms traditional pixel arrays to support superior diagnostic accuracy and improve physician confidence in patient treatment and management. It can also help reduce patient fear and anxiety.

Dr. Thurmond started evaluating the first DBT systems in 2010, but waited to install the technology until ASPIRE Cristalle with DBT was available in 2017. “I am so glad we waited. We saw the ASPIRE Cristalle DBT images and thought they were stunning, crisp and clear. Having good images makes all the difference in the world,” she said.

3D technology is helping many patients

Since her diagnosis, Dr. Thurmond has seen at least two patients in her clinic with similar tumors.

“These women had teeny tiny little breast cancers that would not have been visible prior to the ASPIRE Cristalle with DBT,” she said. “ We would have let them go home, telling them they were normal, without the new technology. That’s not what we want to do. We want to help people, and the ASPIRE Cristalle has helped us do that.”

With the ASPIRE Cristalle, the clinic is able to give women their results the same day as their exams, which improves their workflow and alleviates patient anxiety. It has also streamlined image acquisition and reading time because the images are so diagnostically clear. “The beautiful images are easier to look at. We all feel more confident that our diagnoses are more accurate. It’s just wonderful,” Dr. Thurmond said.

For more information about the Aspire to Be Fearless Campaign check out Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

For information about the Fujifilm’s ASPIRE Cristalle Tomosynthesis Equipment visit https://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/medical/digital-mammography/.

For Continuing Medical Education for Radiologists and Mammographers visit appliedradiology.org/6a