Women’s Wellness at St. Anthony’s
Breast Care Services
The mission of St. Anthony’s Women’s Wellness – Breast Care program is to provide care to women with an emphasis on breast care, from prevention, screening, and diagnosis to treatment and follow-up care in a consistent, compassionate and timely manner and in accordance with our hospital’s core values of Respect, Care, Competence, and Joy.
St. Anthony’s wants to make every patient’s experience the very best possible. To provide increased care and comfort for mammography and cancer patients, the hospital has formed a Breast Care Task Force. Dr. Ruben Boyajian will lead the Task Force and has been named the Medical Director of Women’s Wellness and Breast Care Services at St. Anthony’s.
The Task Force is focused on improving services and scheduling, increasing cancer and mammography education, and reducing the time from detection to diagnosis of breast cancer to less than five working days. And if diagnosed, a nurse navigator will assist with coordination of treatments and help patients through treatment to recovery.
Mammography
Women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram every year. St. Anthony’s offers digital mammograms at our Diagnostic Centers in Effingham. A trained female technician will perform the mammogram screening allowing for patient privacy and comfort. Screening mammograms are also available in Newton.
Computer Aided Detection for Mammography
St. Anthony’s Image Checker acts like a second pair of eyes for the radiologist. It identifies benign or possibly cancerous areas by encircling it for the radiologist to focus on when he/she reads it.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
MRIs show an increase or abnormal blood flow in the breast, which is a sign of early breast cancer. In concert with mammograms, MRIs are effective in detecting cancer in women with dense, non-fatty breasts.
Stereotactic Breast Biopsy
Stereotactic Breast Biopsy offers women a faster and less painful alternative to surgery, with fewer complications and less recovery time. This procedure is performed to collect a sample of cells or tissue from the suspicious area for examination under a microscope by a pathologist.