R2 Technology Inc and Stanford University's Department of Radiology announced a formal collaboration designed to accelerate efforts towards the continued development of CAD-enhanced products for the detection of lung cancer and optimized clinical workflow.

"Stanford has focused for many years on research regarding the acquisition, post-processing and analysis of multi-dimensional imaging data, including CAD for lung and colon cancer detection," said Sandy Napel, associate professor of Radiology, Stanford University. "This research collaboration with R2 is a natural extension of this effort, and will facilitate the incorporation of our research results into CAD products that will be used to improve patient care."

R2 also recently announced that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has accepted the pre-market application (PMA) for its ImageChecker CT CAD system designed for the detection of lung nodules in multi-detector CT (MDCT) images of the chest.

Introduced commercially in Europe in March 2003, the integrated ImageChecker CT CAD system with OmniCAD technology is a comprehensive lung nodule detection and analysis system. The CAD algorithms automatically detect potential areas of interest to increase physician accuracy by decreasing observational oversights, as well as provide workflow-enhancing tools, including automatic measurement and characterization information of the detected lung nodules. Combined, the integrated system is designed to improve radiologist efficiency and aid in making clinical decisions. R2 received 510(k) approval for the workflow enhancing tools from the FDA in November 2002.

"Ten years ago, R2 was founded to create CAD applications for mammography, largely based on an agreement with the University of Chicago, a recognized pioneer in CAD development," said Michael Klein, president and CEO of R2 Technology. "We see the collaboration with Stanford, the pre-eminent 3D imaging department in the nation, as a crucial next step in the development of CAD products for MDCT and other 3D imaging applications."