Clara Maass Offers Breast Cancer Testing - Belleville-Nutley Patch ...

Women can be tested for breast cancer at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, after the medical center earned accreditation to perform the test to detect and diagnose the diseases.

The medical center?s Department of Radiology earned a three-year term of accreditation in mammography by the?American?College?of Radiology, according to Cathy Toscano, director of Public Relations at the medical center.

Mammography is a specific type of imaging test that uses a low-dose x-ray system to examine breasts. A mammography exam, called a mammogram, is used to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases in women, according to Hospital Officials.

The medical center's leading doctor in the area said the accreditation improves treatment.

?Patients are seen more readily as a result of this technology,? said James Heimann, MD, Medical Director of Radiology, regarding the digital mammogram.? ?Instead of completing one mammogram every 30 minutes, we can now do one every 15 minutes. This machine?s performance and results are fast and efficient.??

The Radiology Department also performs a second type of mammography, called digital mammography, officials said.

Digital mammography is made possible by a grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. ?A digital mammogram uses a special detector to capture and convert x-ray energy into a digital image, rather than capturing it on film, officials said.?

A third innovation offered is called an Upright Stereotactic Biopsy, which provides a more comfortable biopsy experience for a patient who has had a suspicious tissue finding from a mammogram. The stereotactic approach to performing a? biopsy reduces pain, scars, recovery time and the risk of post-surgical complications, officials said.

The upright aspect to stereotactic biopsying is done with a patient upright, which minimizes cost and space as well as providing a faster biopsy, with less bleeding, as some doctors suggest.? The upright approach is designed to provide more comfort to the arms and neck and positions the breast in the same way as when the area of concern was detected, officials said.

The American College of Radiology gives a gold seal of accreditation that represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety, officials said.

The accreditation is awarded only to facilities meeting the college?s Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by Board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field, according to officials.

The college is a national professional organization serving more than 34,000 diagnostic/interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and medical physicists with programs.?

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