Making a difference with mobile digital mammography

One of the greatest contributions digital mammography can make is improving access to quality mammography in rural areas, where populations are likely to be underserved. Vans with Hologic Selenia systems are operating in the mountains of Spain, the north sea coast of Germany, the deserts of Saudi Arabia, and a number of places in the United States.

Going mobile in Alaska

"The greatest challenge in Alaska is access," said Denise Farleigh, M.D., medical director of Providence Imaging Center, an independent diagnostic imaging facility in Anchorage, AK.

When their analog mobile unit was no longer serviceable, their van was replaced by a 33-foot mammography suite equipped with a Selenia and R2 ImageChecker computer-aided detection. "Some women have never had screenings before," said Susan Kessler, the lead technologist for the mobile unit, "or if they did, they did not have them regularly, because getting to Anchorage is a huge deal for many of them. Some of these women live way out, in small cabins, some of them don't have running water. It's a huge effort to get to Anchorage to get an exam and yet, because of this unit, these women can get the latest in breast imaging technology."

Working with wellness programs in B aton Rouge

Last year, the mobile digital mammography van operated by Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana performed 5,000 screening mammograms. Without that service, three quarters of the women currently being screened would go without mammograms. This is the estimate given by Woman's Hospital's Director of Imaging Services, Cynthia Rabalais, RT, who coordinates the mobile program.

Because most of the small hospitals and community clinics in the rural areas surrounding Baton Rouge do not offer mammography services, the Woman's Hospital mobile digital program fills that gap, reaching women within a 60 mile radius of the hospital.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Cynthia stretched that 60-mile limit to assist the staff at the Louisiana State University Healthcare system. "They didn't have any mammography ability at all, so we worked with them for almost a year until they got reestablished with their own equipment," she said. "We served about 1,400 patients in the New Orleans area."

The coach also visits health units in federally-qualified community centers and the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, as well as churches and corporations. "Women love the convenience and employers love their employees not having to take time off to get this test done," said Cynthia.

In Seattle, technology paves the way

Swedish Medical Center of Seattle, Washington, has a long history of providing mobile mammograms to women in outlying areas. However, film-based systems were very labor-intensive and fraught with problems. Existing regulations and requirements for mammography film processing compounded the difficulty of mobile environments. According to Karen McInerney, manager or the Swedish Breast Care Centers, '"the way to get around all this was with digital. With digital, the tech can view the image in real-time to verify that a quality mammogram was taken."

Dr. Farleigh sums up the single most important benefit of mobile digital mammography programs this way: "In an underserved population, you will always see a significant number of cancers in the unscreened that you would not have found if the unit had not been able to make its way out there."