Women’s Imaging
Full Field Image Mammography with 3D Tomosynthesis
The latest digital mammography technology screening exams that include Computer-Aided Detection (CAD), which supplements 3D Tomosynthesis mammography to provide a “second read” of the mammogram.
Mammography is used to aid in the early detection and the diagnosis of breast diseases in women. Some patients experience no symptoms of beast cancer, while others experience a lump, mass, breast pain, nipple discharge, or skin irritation.
Toll Gate Radiology uses the latest digital mammography technology screening exams that include Computer-Aided Detection (CAD), which supplements digital mammography to provide a “second read” of the mammogram. CAD can help detect subtle abnormalities such as breast calcifications as an early warning sign of breast cancer.
Breast ultrasound
Nearly half of the female population in this country have dense breast tissue, and a mammogram cannot see well enough through dense breast tissue. We advocate to do all that you can do for your breast health including Breast Ultrasound.
According to AreYouDense.org: “Studies confirm that mammography misses every other cancer in dense breasts.” By adding Ultrasound, you increase detection of breast cancer from approximately 48% – 97%.
A breast ultrasound:
- Does not replace the need for a mammogram, but it is as an adjunct screening tool with mammography in patients with dense breast tissue and in patients with a strong family history of breast cancer or other risk factors. A recent study has found that the combined use of breast ultrasound and mammography detects more cancers, at an earlier stage, and is more sensitive than using mammography alone.
- Utilizes a small handheld unit called a transducer, which is gently passed back and forth over your breast. There is no radiation.
- Uses sound waves to show a sonogram (ultrasound scan) on a computer monitor of the tissues inside your breast, including the area closest to your chest wall, which is sometimes difficult to study with a mammogram.
Breast biopsy
Based on the results of your mammogram and breast ultrasound, your Toll Gate Radiology physician may recommend a biopsy to make a final diagnosis.
Toll Gate Radiology’s Center for Women offers ultrasound-guided, core needle breast biopsies. This procedure:
- Is highly exact and less invasive than having an open surgical biopsy.
- Lasts less than an hour, enabling your physician to examine small samples of breast tissue.
- Uses a thin needle to draw out breast tissue samples roughly the size of a grain of rice with imaging technologies sometimes helping to guide the needle to the appropriate area.
- Allows for quick, definitive results and requires minimal time compared to inpatient surgery.
- Concludes with a bandage and an ice pack placed over the affected area.
- Requires you to relax at home for the remainder of the day; day-to-day activities can usually be resumed the very next day.
- May cause bruising and discomfort afterwards, but over-the-counter pain medication can usually alleviate these.
- As with any biopsy, results may not be available until a few days following the procedure.
DEXA bone density scan
Bone density, also called densitometry or Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptometry (DEXA) scan, determines whether you have osteoporosis or are at risk of osteoporosis, which is a disease that causes bones to become more fragile and more likely to break.
A bone density test:
- Is simple, quick and painless way to measure your bone loss.
- Uses x-rays to measure how many grams of calcium and other bone minerals are packed into a segment of bone in your lower back, hip, wrist or forearm.
- Is an accurate predictor of your risk of fracture.
- Can also monitor the efficacy of drug therapy on your bone density.
