Hologic Inc

Hologic Inc., a maker of diagnostic and medical imaging systems, has agreed to acquire medical device maker Cytyc Corp. and create a $10-billion company that focuses exclusively on advanced technology in women's health, the two companies announced Sunday. The combination is expected to drive cross-selling across units of the new company, generating more than $75 million in extra revenue within the first three years.

Hologic Inc., a maker of diagnostic and medical imaging systems, has agreed to acquire medical device maker Cytyc Corp. and create a $10-billion company that focuses exclusively on advanced technology in women's health, the two companies announced Sunday. The combination is expected to drive cross-selling across units of the new company, generating more than $75 million in extra revenue within the first three years.

Three-dimensional mammogram technology, which could reduce the number of women who need additional screening for breast cancer, received approval Friday from the Food and Drug Administration. But experts and advocacy groups were divided over how helpful the new images would be. About 10% of women require follow-up screening because their first set of mammograms is not clear enough, which 3-D images might help resolve, said Kristin Byrne, chief of breast imaging for New York's Lenox Hill Hospital.

An increasingly popular technology that uses computers to scan mammograms actually produces worse results than human reviewers using their eyes and experience, according to a study released Wednesday. Radiologists using computer-assisted detection software were more likely to interpret a benign growth as potentially cancerous, researchers said in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new device that can diagnose osteoporosis in 10 seconds by scanning a person's heel using ultrasound, a new technology that is dramatically faster and considerably less expensive than the equipment and procedure now in use.