The Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital (CTMH) has just recently installed a three-dimensional “pain free” mammography centre and the Minister of Health, Hon Mark Scotland, was on hand to officially open it.

CTMH has upgraded its mammography equipment and integrated an R2 Computer Assisted Diagnosis (CAD) workstation. The new equipment is a state-of-the-art Hologic Selenia digital mammography machine for breast cancer screening. This unique system, tomosynthesis, offers 3D scanning of the breast instead of traditional 2D scanning. The state-of-the-art award winning equipment is the first of its kind to receive FDA approval.

Mr. Scotland said t the project will allow women to have an increased opportunity to engage in their own healthcare by practicing a healthy lifestyle, having annual check-ups and doing monthly self examinations. With this new equipment the numbers of breast cancer cases can be reduced significantly in the Cayman Islands.

“Regular mammograms can sometimes feel uncomfortable and it is known that some women avoid screening frequency recommended by their doctors. A more comfortable alternative should mean more mammograms completed, more early cancers detected and treated, more deaths prevented,” he said. “As a country we are constantly looking for ways to improve our medical resources-and only two weeks away from Breast Cancer awareness month in October, this occasion comes at the perfect time. Not only to remind women to get a mammogram, but also to inform them about this new screening alternative.”

Dr. Yaron Rado, chief radiologist at Chrissie Tomlinson and Cayman Islands Imaging, said, “The pressure used in the mammogram is just enough to hold the tissue in place so there is no movement while the procedure takes place, so there is none of the squeezing that has been experienced in the past.”

The old system required mammograms to be taken with only one picture, across the entire breast, in two directions: top to bottom and side to side.

Studies have shown that tomosynthesis outperforms traditional mammography and that for both masses and microcalcification. The recall rates for patients who are asked back for a mammogram do-over showed a reduction of approx.40 per cent.

“There is no reason to postpone your mammograms due to pain anymore, “Dr. Rado said.