Merge Healthcare is announcing the release of Merge Mammo version 7.0.1, which recently received the CE mark for commercial distribution in Europe. The multi-modality, vendor-neutral digital mammography workstation enables organizations to display and read images from digital mammography, ultrasound, MR and CR simultaneously, and to read all breast studies on a single workstation, regardless of which vendor's acquisition device is used to secure the images.

Version 7.0.1 offers several features including:

• Enhanced full-resolution viewing: In full resolution, a digital breast image is larger than a computer screen.  Radiologists must therefore pan across the image to view the image in its entirety. The process takes time and increases the likelihood that the radiologist will miss a portion of the read. The workstation offers new functionality for a more fluid, step-through method, enabling radiologists to move from section to section in full resolution to ensure complete review of the entire image.
  
  
• Optimized screen "real estate": In traditional mammographic images, radiologists see more than the breast. Blackened, background areas (often scans of the imaging unit itself) consume a portion of the viewing area. Viewing can be optimized by reducing background and isolating the breast. Merge Mammo now incorporates new algorithm-driven isolation of the breast image. By automatically fitting the breast image into the display, radiologists immediately see the image at maximum size, and avoid the time and distraction of moving and manipulating images.  
  
  
• Enhanced grayscale inversion: Some radiologists use an inversion technique when reading images, converting black to white and white to black. Merge Mammo 7.0.1 offers a feature that enables conversion of white (the breast image) to black, while maintaining background (non-breast image) as black. This enhances the radiologist's ability to isolate potential problem areas more effectively when inverting images.