This year, more than 184,450 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. Allegan General Hospital has advanced the fight against this pervasive disease by installing a new cutting edge digital mammography system.
Allegan, MI — This system will provide physicians with clear and precise all-digital images, rather than images on X-ray film. What’s more, it provides the largest field of view currently available, which can be extremely helpful for precision imaging of patients with diverse shapes and sizes.“We are very excited to be able to provide digital mammography services to the community,” says Clarence Snyder, radiology manager at Allegan General Hospital. “Digital mammography allows us to offer our patients state-of-the-art mammograms that are fast and easy. And most importantly it gives our referring physicians accurate images to use in diagnosis.”
In Michigan, an estimated 7,340 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Mammograms are among the best early detection methods, yet 13 million U.S. women 40 years of age or older have never had a mammogram, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.
“This new digital technology will provide both accuracy and increased ease of use for our patients,” says Snyder. “Providing outstanding diagnostic equipment for patients is a vital step to good preventive health, and one we take very seriously. As did the AGH Foundation, who helped support our purchase of this new equipment.”
There are many advantages to a digital system. The images are clear and easier to read, and it offers an excellent view of the breast, especially near the skin line, chest wall and in women with diverse breast tissue types. Plus digital images can be refined during viewing. Brightness, contrast, and clarity can all be manipulated by the radiologist to enhance the image as much as possible. Physicians can also zoom in, magnify and optimize different parts of the breast tissue.
The digital image is ready to read within 10 seconds — there is no longer a wait for films to be developed to be sure the images are of diagnostic quality. Digital mammograms are also quicker than traditional film mammograms. And if a second opinion is needed, the image can be sent electronically to a consulting physician virtually instantaneously.
Digital mammography also increases the ability to detect even small cancers earlier—especially in women under 50 and women who are pre-menopausal or in its beginning stages.
via MD News
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