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HealthPLEX Imaging has added new digital mammography equipment at its Rostraver facility to offer area women the latest in diagnostic imaging technologies for these X-rays of the breast.

With digital mammography, the radiologist reviews electronic images of the breast using special high-resolution monitors. The radiologist can adjust the brightness, change contrast and zoom in for close ups of specific areas of interest. Being able to manipulate images is one of the main benefits of digital technology.

"This technology provides greater accuracy for pinpointing size, shape and location of abnormalities as well as a greater likelihood of detecting multiple breast tumors, which occur in 15 percent of breast cancer patients," said Maryann Konsugar, HealthPLEX Imaging Manager.

Other added benefits of the digital mammography are that patients experience fewer unnecessary biopsies, fewer call backs for additional tests and far less false positives.

"What excites me about digital mammography is the quality of the images and the ability to see small abnormalities in the breast even better than before," said Natalie Furgiuele, M.D., a breast surgeon at Monongahela Valley Hospital.

Dr. Furgiuele said that women should still be vigilant with their screenings, and continue to receive a yearly mammogram after age 40. She also added that patients will not perceive any change in the mammogram itself as far as discomfort or time required, but eliminating film X-rays does lessen total waiting time.

In 2015, this latest generation of digital mammography at the HealthPLEX will also add tomosynthesis, or 3-D mammography. Tomosynthesis is a revolutionary new screening and diagnostic tool designed for early breast cancer detection that can be done in conjunction with a traditional 2-D digital mammogram.

This 3-D mammogram takes 15 successive images, each at a slightly different angle along an arc across the breast. The concept is simple — what is hidden behind dense tissue in one image might be visible in another if the angle is slightly different. The digital information is reconstructed into slices, similar in appearance to those created using CT. Thus, women with dense breast tissue will especially benefit.

Sometimes breast tissue can overlap giving the illusion of an abnormal area, when the tissue is actually normal. By looking at the breast tissue in one millimeter slices, the radiologist can provide a more confident assessment. In this way, 3-D mammography finds cancers missed with conventional 2-D mammography.

To schedule a digital mammogram at HealthPLEX Imaging, call 724-379-1900.

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