Siteman Cancer Center is St. Louis’ First 100% Digital Mammography Program

September 28, 2006, ST. LOUIS – After participating in a landmark study comparing digital mammography to conventional screening mammography, the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center – a collaborative program between the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine and Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology – will be the first 100% digital mammography program in the St. Louis area.

With a kickoff during breast cancer awareness month in October 2006, digital mammography equipment will be available at both the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center in the Center for Advanced Medicine at the corner of Euclid and Forest Park, and also in the Siteman Cancer Center''s new mammography van. The mammography van will be unveiled in a public event on October 24.

Over 28,000 mammogram screenings are done at Siteman annually – almost 8,000 on the mammography van alone – and for a certain patient population, Siteman''s move to digital mammography should prove to be of significant benefit.

Physicians from 33 sites in the U.S. and Canada participated in DMIST (Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial). Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine''s Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology interpreted both film and digital screening mammograms of each of the more than 3,300 volunteers enrolled at the Breast Center, the largest cohort in the study.

Results of DMIST released in 2005 showed that conventional film mammography and digital mammography were equally effective. However, digital mammography performed better for the following groups: women under 50, women who are premenopausal and perimenopausal and women with dense breasts. The total of these groups represents at least 50% of the general population of women.

"After the exciting results of the DMIST study, we launched a very aggressive initiative to provide this very important technology to the women we take care of," says Susan Kraenzle, RN, manager of the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center. All mammography units are currently being replaced in the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center with new digital equipment on the new mammography van that will replace the existing van.

For radiologists, digital mammography simplifies the use of computer-aided detection, according to Barbara Monsees, MD, chief of breast imaging at the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center.

"We use software that works in a similar fashion to that of a spell checker, only pointing out findings on mammograms rather than misspelled words," says Dr. Monsees. "All of our mammograms, whether screening or diagnostic, whether in the center or on the van will be digital, and all will be interpreted with the benefit of computer aided detection."

"From the patient''s perspective, the digital mammogram experience is the same as a conventional mammogram," says Dione Farria, MD, assistant professor of radiology at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and principal investigator for the DMIST study site at the Siteman Cancer Center. Both technologies require X-rays and breast compression to obtain an image.

"Unlike conventional film mammography, though, digital mammography stores a digital image of the breast in a computer," says Dr. Farria. "This allows radiologists to use computer software to manipulate the images in order to optimize their ability to evaluate the breast tissue."

It also allows for a more efficient process. "There are clear work flow advantages for our technologists in converting to digital mammography," says Kraenzle. "Conventional film and film processing will be a thing of the past and all of our images will be stored electronically."

Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and the former Barnes Hospital launched the first mobile mammography unit in August 1986, the first west of the Mississippi. "This program has been one of the most successful mobile programs in the United States," says Dr. Monsees.

A grant from the Avon Foundation, an independent 501(c)3 founded by Avon Products Inc. in 1955, funded the purchase of digital mammography equipment for the new mammography van, while the van itself was funded from Siteman''s annual "Celebrate Fitness" event and funds from "Share the Care."

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For more information about digital mammography, call the Siteman Cancer Center at 314-747-7222 or 800-600-3606.