 Diagnostic Procedures
Diagnosis: When a lump or abnormality is detected, up to date methods are available to assist the staff to make an accurate diagnosis:
Breast Biopsy The removal of a sample of tissue to see whether cancer cells are present. There are several kinds of biopsies.
Mammogram An x-ray of the breast; the method of detecting breast cancers which cannot be felt. Screening mammography is used to help find breast cancer early in women without any symptoms. Diagnostic mammography helps the doctor learn more about breast masses or the cause of other breast symptoms.
Mobile Mammography Mammogram machine that can be transported to area sites to do mammography. The quality and machine accreditation are the same as the mammogram devices used at an accredited facility.
Mammograms for Breast Implants - Having breast implants may make detection of abnormal or cancerous breast tissue during mammography more difficult. A breast implant can hide abnormal breast tissue or lesions. To produce accurate, high-quality images, the breast has to be squeezed fairly tightly. This can rarely cause a breast implant to leak or rupture. Also, scarring and calcium deposits around the implant may look like cancerous tissue and make the mammogram harder to interpret.
If you have breast implants and need to have a mammogram, tell the technician when you schedule the mammogram what type of implants you have (saline or silicone) and whether they are behind or in front of the chest muscle. You may need more views taken than are done during a typical screening.
R2 Image Checker - The ImageCheckerฎ System is the first Computer Aided Detection (CAD) System for screening mammograms. It digitizes and analyzes the films, marking features that may be associated with cancer.
Breast Ultrasound an examination technique which uses high frequency sound waves to make still and live video pictures of the breast.
Breast Scintigraphy with Miraluma a nuclear medicine test that you physician selects because of its ability to see with in the breast, regardless of breast tissue density. Maybe used after a mammogram has been inconclusive.
Cyst Aspiration with Ultrasound Guidance
Ultrasound-guided Bx
FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration) Fluid/cells are drawn out from a cyst or lump through a very thin needle. This is then sent for examination by pathology.
Stereotactic Core Needle Bx is used to biopsy abnormal tissue identified from a mammogram. It is performed on an area where the mammogram indicated an abnormality of breast tissue, but could not determine the presence of cancer.
Mammotome Bx Uses either sterotactic (xray) or ultrasound guidance to locate the are of concern within the breast on the mammogram. Biopsy is then done through a small incision the size of a match head.
Abby Bx - Biopsy using sterotactic technology to remove an entire specimen under local anesthesia. The small opening maybe closed with a few stitches.
Breast MRI Non-invasive test used to determine what is inside the breast. This test does not use xrays. Magnetic fields and radiowaves are used. A contrast agent maybe also used.
Needle Localization This is used for an open biopsy. Under x-ray guidance, a wire is positioned in the suspicious region of the breast identifying the area to be removed during the surgical biopsy.
Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping and Bx a radioactive substance in addition to a blue dye are injected around the tumor in order to follow lymphatic drainage to the primary lymph node from the tumor area. This is used to determine the extent of node metastasis. This is currently in trial study at DMH.
Galactogram/Ductogram for nipple discharge is a procedure that can be performed if discharge from the nipple is noted. Special X-ray dye is injected in the duct via a tiny needle. Mammogram films are then taken to determine is the duct is blocked or dilated.
Lymphoscintigraphy for Sentinel node Bx intradermal injection of a radiopharmaceutical to identify sentinel lymph nodes and determine the sites of lymphatic drainage from a tumor site with gamma camera imaging.
Comprehensive Pathology Services
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