The MammoGrid project is studying the commercial possibilities for its distributed computing environment that employs existing Grid technologies for the creation of a European database of mammogram data. By using Grid computing, the system allows hospitals, healthcare workers and researchers to share data and resources. It supports effective co-working, such as obtaining second opinions that reduce the risk of misdiagnosis, and opens the door to powerful statistical analysis of the incidence and forms of breast cancer to assist future research.

"Breast cancer is one of many diseases that is complicated to diagnose and for which Grid computing will prove to be a very valuable tool," says Jean-Marie Le Goff, head of the Technology Transfer Service at CERN.

Breast cancer screening procedures suffer from several complications including the physical differences between the breasts of different women, the different procedures and equipment used to obtain mammography images, and the large amount of image data produced that makes computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) processing intensive.

These problems have contributed to the relatively high error rate of breast cancer screening procedures. It is estimated that around 30 per cent of mammograms result in either false positive diagnoses, whereby women are falsely diagnosed with breast cancer leading to unnecessary and painful biopsy, or, more seriously, in false negative diagnoses that lead to tumours going undetected.

With one in eight women developing breast cancer at some point in their lives and one in 28 dying from it, the importance of improving screening procedures and ensuring accurate diagnosis is evident.

By giving healthcare professionals the ability to use Grid computing to efficiently share data and resources their ability to accurately diagnose breast cancer is greatly enhanced. "A doctor in a small village, for example, probably doesn't have access to powerful tools but with G
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Contact: Tara Morris
tmorris@gopa-cartermill.com
322-286-1985
IST Results
7-Dec-2005

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