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Imaging Workshop to Tackle Better Cancer Detection

Alternatives to Mammography workshop participants have a common goal of developing a breast cancer screening method that is more effective than mammography. “Continued advances in computers, software, data processing, and data gathering technology raise the prospect that alternative technologies will become useful for detecting breast cancer at an earlier stage,” says Dr. Richard Gordon, a radiology professor at the University of Manitoba and a workshop co-organizer. “It is the spread of inoperable, secondary tumors that is often fatal in breast cancer cases, and a number of promising new technologies offer the hope that we can develop a new screening method that could detect small breast tumors before they metastasize.”

Dr. Gordon notes a range of new imaging technologies being researched around the globe, including computed tomography, 3D ultrasound, electrical impedance tomography, microwave, infrared light imaging, and many more. “We’re providing a technical forum to discuss, compare and combine several currently used, experimental, and futuristic imaging techniques.”

The workshop forms part of a broader TRLabs initiative to partner with health authorities, health research institutions, and the private sector to apply information and communications technology innovation to the health care sector. In Manitoba, TRLabs has health-related research partnerships with the St. Boniface General Hospital Research Centre and the Manitoba Institute of Child Health.

One in eight women in North America will develop breast cancer during her lifetime. In 2004, an estimated 21,200 women in Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,200 will die of it. Men account for approximately 1% of breast cancer cases. The number of breast cancer cases is rising 3-4% annually in step with Canada’s aging population, but survival rates have risen steadily since 1990 with earlier detection and more effective treatment methods.

In the three-day period of the workshop, 174 Canadians (9860 globally) will be diagnosed with breast cancer; 43 Canadians (3682 globally) will die of the disease.

About TRLabs
TRLabs creates innovative technologies and trains students to enhance ICT expertise and improve Canada’s global competitiveness. Labs in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, and Winnipeg employ 265. With 54 partner members representing a unique synergy of industry, government, and university, research activities focus on seven strategic areas dedicated to building the network of the future: data networking, digital media, home technologies, network access, network systems, photonics, and wireless communications. In its 18-year existence, TRLabs has trained 775 highly skilled university graduates, created 280 technologies adopted for use by companies, and generated 155 patents issued or filed.

About TRLabs Manitoba
TRLabs Manitoba (est. 1994) employs 75 people in the area of data networking – research aimed at improving the speed, reliability and efficiency of the communications network. TRLabs’ success at contributing to the growth of Manitoba’s ICT industry has included training of 128 Masters and Ph.D. students in Computer and Electrical Engineering, generation of 23 patents issued or filed, and the production of 46 industry-commercialized technologies in the last four years. Graduates remaining in Manitoba reached two-thirds last year (40% historically).

TRLabs member partners in Manitoba are e-Stage Technologies, InfoMagnetics Technologies, Linear Systems, Linnet, Manitoba Hydro, Novra Technologies, OMT Technologies, ProfitMaster Canada, Red River College, RMA Technologies, TDV Global, Tell Us About Us, The Information Forge, Vansco Electronics, the University of Manitoba, and the federal and provincial governments, respectively through Western Economic Diversification and Manitoba Energy, Science & Technology.

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