Director: W. Phil Evans, M.D. 

For Appointments: 214-645-2550

The Breast Imaging Services makes up a very important part of the breast center.  It is equipped with state-of-the-art digital and film technology for screening and diagnostic mammograms, high resolution breast ultrasound,  breast magnetic resonance mammography (MRM), and stereotactic image-guided breast biopsy.

Mammography (Digital and Screen-Film)

The only screening method proven to reduce the mortality of breast cancer is X-ray mammography, which includes both the advanced digital mammograms and the conventional screen-film mammograms.  When breast tumors are detected while merely one-half inch or less, survival surpasses 90 percent.

The first digital equipment was introduced in 1998 and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for clinical use in February 2000.  Other systems have since been developed and have received FDA approval.  Approval was contingent upon the technology being equivalent to screen-film mammography in breast-cancer detection.  Both digital and screen-film technologies provide black-and-white images of the breast, and the equipment that obtains the images is almost identical in appearance.  But the digital images are reviewed on high-resolution computer monitors rather than on X-ray films.  And as digitized images, the digital mammography can be maipulated on the computer screen using zoom, brightening, and other visual enhancements. 

Additional Imaging and Image-guided Breast Biopsy

When a breast abnormality has been detected by screening mammography, the patient is recalled to the Center for Breast Care for further imaging.  For most women, the additional imaging with high resolution ultrasound or an additional mammogram is all that is needed to instill confidence that the finding is benign.  For other women, the nature of the finding is uncertain, thereby prompting the need for a biopsy.

In the past, a biopsy was necessarily a surgical procedure.  Today however, many breast biopsies can be performed on an outpatient basis using stereotactic- or ultrasound-guided core needle sampling to diagnose without surgery.  These procedures require only local anesthetic and an incision as small as a grain of rice.  They are more rapid than surgery and are one-half to two-thirds the cost.  Most women can resume normal activities within a few hours of the biopsy.

The method of core needle biopsy used, whether stereotactic- or ultrasound-guided, is determined by the type and location or the tissue to be biopsied.

In the stereotactic-guided biopsy, the woman lies on a padded table and on her stomach.  Her breast to be biopsied is placed through an opening in the table and compressed.  Several mammography images are taken to correctly position the area to be biopsied.  Then the radiologist will use a local anesthetic to numb the skin and a small incision is made where the biopsy needle will enter the breast.  Then through the needle, samples of breast tissue will be obtained for laboratory analysis.

Ultrasound-guided breast biopsy is similar to the stereotactic procedure, except that sound waves rather than X-ray waves are used to locate the area to be biopsied and the woman will lie on her back rather than her stomach.

When the biopsy is complete, the area is covered with a small bandage.  Your physician or radiologist will later contact you regarding the results of your biopsy.