Stellarray to Develop New Mammogram System

Austin, TX - Aug 14, 2009 - Stellarray, Inc. has received a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Cancer Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health to develop a new kind of breast imaging system that can improve the diagnostic accuracy of mammograms. This digital breast tomosynthesis system (DBTS) will be based on Stellarray’s digitally addressable X-ray source (DAXS) and enable three-dimensional imaging of the breast with no moving parts or motion blurring. 3D breast imaging can reduce the number of false positive and false negative readings by better resolving overlapping tissue types. The DBTS will require little or no compression of the breast, which will make mammograms more comfortable than they are now and encourage women to get them.

Dr. Mitali More, formerly a Radiology Research Associate at the University of Virginia Medical Center and a Research Engineer at the Imaging Technologies Lab of General Electric Global Research, will lead the research. The Digital Imaging Research Laboratory of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is our partner on this project.

Mark Eaton, Stellarray’s President and CEO, said “We are pleased to start work in this important field of medical imaging and hope to make a significant contribution to women’s’ health. There is considerable room for improvement in the accuracy, comfort and accessibility of mammograms and DAXS-based systems should be able to fill a large part of it.”

Stellarray, a spin-off of Stellar Micro Devices in Austin, is developing flat panel X-ray sources and products using them. Plain X-ray panels will be released next year, primarily for sterilization systems, the first of which is a small irradiator for sterilizing transfusion blood supplies. The pixilated DAXS panels are being developed for more complex imaging systems, such as the DBTS, small animal imaging and portable CT systems. Both panels have been developed with support from the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. For further information please contact Mark Eaton at (512)997-7781 or eaton@stellar-micro.com.