MARRERO, La. — The key to surviving breast cancer is finding it early, but for some women, a developing lump can be hard to see on a regular mammogram.
Well now, brand new technology at West Jefferson Medical Center, is changing that.
Anne Babson is an accomplished, published poet, and college literature professor. She also doesn't miss her yearly mammogram.
“I'm very serious about it. My mother died of breast cancer. My mother was my age now when she was diagnosed, and she died too young,” said Anne Babson, 57.
Because Anne has dense breasts, that puts her at a slightly higher risk of getting cancer. And that also makes it more difficult for the radiologist to spot it on a mammogram.
The Chief of Radiology at West Jefferson Medical Center, Dr. Michael D'Antonio, now has a new diagnostic tool. This is the first in the state to get SoftVue. It's a new machine that does a complete 3D ultrasound of both breasts.
For women with dense breast tissue, it's done at the same appointment as your 3D mammogram, giving the radiologist a much better view.
“So, not only does it find the lesions, but it can tell us what is this lesion acting like. Is it soft, or is it hard? Does it transmit sound quickly, or does it not, and as a result of that, it can decrease the number of unnecessary breast biopsies,” said Dr. D’Antonio.
Ultrasound in the past has helped doctors find roughly twice the number of invasive cancers in dense breasts, than with mammograms alone, but it wasn't good at differentiating which lesions were benign, like scars from cosmetic, or medical surgeries.
“Scarring in a breast can look like a cancer. The SoftVue can again, characterize these types of things, and in some cases, like I say just on its own, determine that this is only a scar,” he explained.
“I'm quite sure that this machine would have saved my mother's life if she would have been able to receive the care that is available today. The science that fights breast cancer is advancing. It's galloping forward,” said Anne.
And that is important because early detection can literally be a matter of life and death.
Most insurance policies will cover the new, supplemental ultrasound screening.
Like WJMC, more of the LCMC-run hospitals plan to get the SoftVue technology in the future.
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