Miners Campus unveils 3-D mammogram machine
St. Luke's Miners Campus in Coaldale is looking to take the anxiety out of cancer screening. Tuesday afternoon the hospital unveiled its brand-new 3-D mammogram machine after a year of fundraising to purchase the cutting-edge technology.
General Electric has been in the process of developing the low-dose radiation mammography equipment for years until finally making it available to the Coaldale location at the beginning of June.Although it was originally created for women with dense breast tissue, the radiology staff agree all women will benefit from the new machine. Breast density consists of a mixture of fibrous, glandular and fatty tissue. Breasts are considered dense if there is an increased ratio of fibrous or glandular tissue with little fat. Early detection in women with dense tissue can prove challenging for doctors and patients since the tissue is more difficult to examine on a typical 2-D mammogram."Dense tissue just looks like a cloud of white on the screen," said Helene Oplinger, network radiology administrator. "It's like looking for a snowball in a snowstorm."The only way to detect dense tissue is through a mammogram, after density is determined women would then be called back to the hospital for additional screening at various locations. The secondary screening would lead to high out-of-pocket expenses for patients, Oplinger said."Gov. Wolf signed legislation this October that requires insurance carriers to cover the cost," she said.Oplinger said the hospital has seen an influx of women requesting the new technology in the other campuses."Women can start right away with the 3-D mammogram," she said."Normally after a 2-D mammogram women would have to be called back," said Joseph Russo M.D., section chief for mammography.Russo explains the machine images "slices" of breast tissue during the mammogram, making abnormalities easier to spot."Now there are 50 percent less recalls with this new technology. Our goal is to find more cancers with lower callback rates," he said.The new machine is located in the radiology wing of the hospital in a room designed as a "SensorySuite" where images of the ocean, forests and gardens are displayed on large screens with soothing nature sounds played in the background while women hold still for the infamous squeeze."We have had patients state that the mammogram didn't seem as bad as last year because they are given something to look at as a distraction," said Barbara Porambo who works as a registered nurse in the radiology department."It takes the anxiety out of the experience," Oplinger said. "Women are always looking for a reason not to come. We are trying to take as many reasons off the plate as possible."Coaldale resident and St. Luke's patient Wanda Deifer arrived at the hospital Tuesday morning for her mammogram. Deifer has a family history of cancer and is at a higher risk rate due to her mother's own battle with breast cancer."It went a lot smoother," she said of her appointment."To not have to travel is a plus. I used to have to go down to Center Valley and it's hard to get there when you work two jobs. This makes it a lot easier," she said.Deifer warns women not to skip this important procedure."A lot of women say the pressure is bad, but this one is not as bad or as long. By not having a mammogram it could be worse in the long run. The chances of finding something with this machine are greater and it'll be less invasive to take care of in the future," she said.