iCAD Inc, which designs, develops and markets Computer Aided Detection (CAD) imaging technology and systems for the early detection of breast cancer, has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market a new version of its CAD software with the highest overall cancer detection sensitivity in the industry. iCAD's newly approved software improves detection rates for calcifications and for masses, resulting in an overall detection rate, or sensitivity, of 90.5 per cent.

"Based on the data submitted to the FDA, iCAD's MammoReader software now offers the best detection rates for masses, and the best overall detection rates, of any available CAD product," commented Scott Parr, President and Chief Executive Officer of iCAD, Inc. "We believe this reflects, in part, the fact that only iCAD seeks to identify all primary indicators of breast cancer. iCAD's software is also unique in checking mammograms for asymmetries, which are potentially valuable indicators of breast cancer.

"In addition to the improvement in detection rates, our new version of CAD software reduces the total number of suspicious areas marked in a mammogram by as much as 12.6%, with the marker rate for calcifications reduced up to 25%. We believe this improved discrimination between 'real' and 'false' cancer markers further enhances the utility of our CAD software to the radiologist."