FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2010
New Dedicated Breast MRI at Emanuel only one in Northern California
Turlock, CA- Women in the Central Valley got an advanced weapon in the fight against breast cancer today with the introduction of a Dedicated Breast MRI System at Emanuel Medical Center - the only one of its kind between Los Angeles and Oregon.
The state-of-the-art Aurora MRI joins with advanced digital mammography and upright stereotactic equipment to make the Ruby E. Bergman Women's Center at Emanuel one of the most advanced breast health centers on the West Coast.
"This dedicated breast MRI unit is the best technology available for exclusively detecting breast cancer," explained Dr. Walter Maynard, the medical director of Emanuel's Ruby E. Bergman Women's Center. "It was designed specifically to produce the best images possible for detection, surgery planning and image-guided biopsies and is by far the most comfortable and patient-friendly scanner out there."
The Aurora scanner is an FDA-approved magnetic resonance imaging system that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce three-dimensional images of a patient's breasts, chest wall and the lymph nodes located under each arm. The patient lies on a contoured table that resembles a massage table, and unlike mammography where the breasts are compressed, the patient's breasts remain uncompressed in recesses built into the table.
"The other advantage of this system from a patient-comfort standpoint is that the patient's head stays outside the imaging chamber," Maynard said. "Some people get very claustrophobic in traditional MRI units, but that is much less of a concern with this unit."
For physicians, the Dedicated Breast MRI produces the clearest and most detailed images available to detect tumors, monitor cancer treatments, evaluate implant integrity and detect cancer in women who have had breast augmentation, guided biopsies and plan for surgery.
"In a woman with breast cancer, surgeons are looking to make sure they remove all of the cancer cells, but preserve as much of a woman's healthy breast tissue as possible," Maynard explained. "Better images make that easier to accomplish."
The MRI will also be used in conjunction with annual mammograms for women who have a high risk of breast cancer and for women with dense breasts that are difficult to image with traditional mammograms.
"We're here to save lives," Maynard said, "and this is going to help us do that."
Aurora Imaging Technologies President and Chief Executive Officer Olivia Ho Cheng said her company is pleased to have partnered with Emanuel's Ruby E. Bergman Women's Center.
"The fight against breast disease is one we hope to help win some day through increased access to advanced imaging technologies," she said. "We are proud that the Ruby E. Bergman Women's Center at Emanuel is the first dedicated breast health center with the Aurora Breast MRI in Northern California. We are hopeful that early detection tools like the Aurora Breast MRI will become increasingly available to women and help eradicate this awful disease."
Emanuel Receives Grant for Women's MRI
In conjunction with the unveiling of the new MRI system, Emanuel announced today that it has received a $20,000 grant from the Safeway Foundation to provide breast MRIs to women who are at high risk for breast cancer and are under-insured.
The grant will enable more than 100 women to get the potentially life-saving test. Eligible women either have insurance that doesn't cover the procedure, are under-insured or do not have medical coverage.
Emanuel Medical Center is a not-for-profit, community-based Christian hospital. Its 415-bed multi-level medical campus includes a 209-bed acute care hospital, a 145-bed skilled nursing facility and a 49-bed assisted living facility. It provides emergency, critical care, pediatric, medical and surgical services, cardiology, cancer diagnosis and treatment services, women's health services and hospice services.
For more information, to search for a doctor by specialty or location, or for an online symptom-checker, visit www.emanuelmedicalcenter.org.
### |
