ALTON - When it comes to breast cancer, early detection saves lives. According to the American Cancer Society, mammograms are considered to be the best tool to find these cancers as early as possible.
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OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center is an American College of Radiology accredited facility, and has invested in new 3D tomosynthesis mammography technology that is now available to patients. Tomosynthesis provides patients with the highest quality images available today.
“Instead of taking one image where structures can overlie each other, we are actually taking a stack of images, so it’s kind of like a picture book, where you flip through the images it tells the full story of a woman’s breast health,” explained Fred SanSoucie, Manager of Medical Imaging at OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center.
The new mammography system at OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center is the same one used by more than half of the U.S. News and World Report top 20 cancer hospitals. It has been proven to reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies and enable care teams to see lesions more clearly. It’s technology that will keep up with the skill level of the radiology staff at OSF Saint Anthony’s.
“Our mission is to provide excellent and compassionate patient care, and that requires the integration of a highly skilled health care team, with the best available diagnostic technology and treatment options,” said Dr. Andrew Barina, OSF Saint Anthony’s Radiologist. “We’ve taken a big step toward accomplishing that with the adoption of tomosynthesis.”
This new equipment is part of an overall larger plan to build a new comprehensive cancer center with new technology, services and physicians conveniently housed within a single location on the campus of OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center.
“We try to spend a lot of time here at OSF Saint Anthony’s on how we are going to ultimately impact the experience of our patient, as well as the clinical care that our patient receives,” said Ajay Pathak, President and CEO, OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center. “So when we think about our new cancer center coming online, and the timing of our 3D tomosynthesis mammography services, it’s all meant to really tie back to how are we impacting health care, and continuing to up the ante around the latest technology and meet the quality of providers that we have on our team. We’ve got leading radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, breast surgeons, a breast navigator, an entire team that builds around the patient. This building, the new cancer center, will allow us to deliver that.”
Heather Jones is part of that team. She says she understands how nerve wracking screenings and diagnostics can be, and the anxiety that comes from unnecessary screening call backs. As a Breast Health Navigator at OSF Saint Anthony’s, she is there to help a patient on her journey – starting from the first screening.
“As a cancer survivor myself, I have walked that path, and I know the scariness of each one of those hurdles that they have to go over,” recalled Jones. “I did not have a navigator at the time, and so it’s very important to have somebody help them, so they can concentrate on their health and their wellbeing, and not be worrisome about all of the other things that have to be done in the interim.”
To schedule a mammogram or to learn more about tomosynthesis technology at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s, call (618) 474-4606.
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