Space Technology Enlisted to Improve Women's Health

October 23, 1997

Contact: Daniel L. Winfield
919-541-6431
[email protected]

Space Technology Enlisted to Improve Womenís Health

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Technology used in NASAís space telescope imaging spectrometer is now part of a digital spot mammography system that may replace surgical biopsy for examining suspicious lumps. Radiologists using this system predict it will reduce national health care costs by approximately one billion dollars annually. And for women, the new procedure will save time, reduce pain, and eliminate scarring.

It is success stories like this that prompted NASA and the US Department of Health and Human Services to sign an interagency agreement today to apply space technology to womenís health issues.

The stereotactic fine-needle breast biopsy for use in digital spot mammography is one of the technologies to grow out of a collaboration among researchers at NASA and the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Since the early 1990s, their collaboration to develop new tools for fighting breast cancer has been facilitated by scientists at Research Triangle Institute (RTI).

In 1992, RTI researchers developed a problem statement ñ the need for better imaging technologies for mammograms ñ and used this problem statement to identify existing digital detectors and image processing technologies that could be applied to mammograms. Then, in 1993, RTI organized a technology transfer workshop attended by NASA, the National Cancer Institute, medical researchers, and private industry to evaluate these technologies. Subsequent NCI- and NASA-funded projects accelerated commercial development of digital mammography, and three commercial systems are now in clinical trials. (-more-)

Womenís Health Page 2

Following DHHS site visits to NASA earlier this year, which were organized by RTI, DHHS and NASA decided to formalize their collaboration by signing todayís agreement. They will continue to work together closely to identify the R&D programs that have the greatest chance of finding opportunities to apply space technology to improve womenís health, including ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat breast cancer.

"One in eight women in the US will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives," says Daniel L. Winfield, a senior research engineer at RTI. "Early detection by breast imaging remains the best hope that women have for effective treatment and reduced mortality. Conventional mammography, however, has several limitations, including a significant percentage of both false positive and false negative results. Clearly, new breast imaging technologies that are more effective in early detection of breast cancer are needed."

Digital mammography, which replaces x-ray film with digital detectors, is seen by many as a promising means of overcoming the limitations of conventional mammography. Meanwhile, advancements in space technology have made significant improvements in digital imaging, many of which can be applied to digital mammograms.

Since 1993, RTI scientists have been working with NASA, DHHSís Office on Womenís Health, the National Cancer Institute, and private industry to transfer space and other technologies developed by government agencies to image-guided detection, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. RTI works with the agencies and industry to help them leverage one anotherís resources.

"Our role will continue to be to identify R&D opportunities, to pull together teams to carry out the research, and to identify commercial partners who can take the product to market," Mr. Winfield says. "RTIís needs-driven technology development and commercialization process has proved to be an effective model for multi-agency cooperation, and we will continue to use this approach."

Besides the stereotactic fine-needle breast biopsy, which is now on the market, RTIís work with DHHS and NASA has led to the development of two other commercial systems for digital mammography that are now in clinical trials. These systems employ state-of-the-art, charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and amorphous silicon detectors to produce images with greater contrast and finer spatial resolution. The DHHS Office on Womenís Health recently awarded a grant to a multi-center team led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to conduct a full clinical evaluation of these digital mammography systems.

"These technologies illustrate how effective interagency partnerships are in ensuring that the entire scientific and technological resources of the U.S. are tapped for solutions to high-priority national needs, such as finding a way to detect breast cancer during its early stages," Mr. Winfield says.

More recently, RTI is supporting DHHS in working with a series of advisory groups to identify additional technology transfer opportunities in the areas of optical spectroscopy and optical imaging, image-guided diagnosis and treatment, digital displays, and image processing and computer aided diagnosis. This work is coordinated with a Multi-Agency Consortium on Imaging Technologies To Improve Womenís Health, led by DHHS with participation from DoD, DoE, NASA, CIA, and other federal agencies.

(-###-)

Editorís note: Other RTI accomplishments related to womenís health include: ∑ Taxol", for treatment of ovarian and breast cancer, discovered at RTI, ∑ HIV prevention initiative for women in rural North Carolina, and ∑ Capronor', biodegradable sustained release contraceptive implant, now in Phase 2 clinical trials.