Kortrijk, Belgium, 1 October 2015 - Healthcare imaging specialist Barco has been granted a patent for its I-Luminate technology, a unique Luminance Boost Method and System, specifically developed to improve detection of fine details in breast images.

I-Luminate was first introduced to the market in 2010 with Barco's Mammo Tomosynthesis 5MP display system. This technology has now also been incorporated into the Coronis 5MP mammography display and Barco's latest flagship product, Coronis UnitiTM, the only display that allows for PACS as well as multi-modality breast imaging (i.e. breast tomosynthesis, digital mammography, breast MRI and ultrasound) on a single screen.

Up to 30% higher detection rate
'The benefits of I-Luminate are astonishing: small and low contrast details are easier to see, dense breast tissue is sharper, and near skin-line details are much brighter', says Albert Xthona, product manager for Women's Health. 'Just imagine how this provides radiologists with a new degree of diagnostic confidence and performance, not to mention the impact it has on patients who are concerned about false positives and negatives.'

'Based on a study we initiated in 2012, we noticed that an increase in display luminance improves the detection of relevant-size micro calcifications significantly,' adds Tom Kimpe, Barco Healthcare's VP Technology & Innovation. 'The study also shows that, compared to a standard mammography display (calibrated at 500 cd/m²), Coronis Uniti with I-Luminate technology increases the detection probability by up to 30%!1'

Increased radiologist productivity
The idea behind I-Luminate is as simple as it is effective. By increasing the display brightness, the number of Just Noticeable Differences, i.e. the threshold at which a change on the screen is perceived, increases, enabling faster inspection and detection of smaller objects. This also reduces windowing and leveling time, which has a huge impact on workflow efficiency and clinical productivity. It is yet another demonstration of Barco's commitment to increase healthcare productivity while maintaining high clinical standards, in a time of declining reimbursement and an increasing workload for healthcare professionals.

I-Luminate maintains compliance to the DICOM GSDF and has no impact on the lifetime of the display. The US patent reference for I-Luminate is 9.082.334.

1Tom Kimpe and Albert Xthona. 'Quantification of detection probability of microcalcifications at increased display luminance levels.' Breast Imaging. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012. 490-497.

About Barco
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops networked visualization products for the Entertainment, Enterprise and Healthcare markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and APAC. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with 3,300 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 1.051 billion euro in 2014.

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