Services include all-digital routine screening mammograms, bilateral breast MRI (high-detail imaging of both breasts on the same day), ultrasound breast imaging, biopsies and treatment planning. Every Methodist screening mammogram gets a “second look” from the R2 ImageChecker computer- aided detection system.
Digital mammography offers better image quality, resulting in a more accurate diagnosis of breast disease. The advanced technology can save lives and makes a mammogram faster, easier and more comfortable.
Comprehensive Breast Day Meeting
If you or someone you know is diagnosed with breast disease, the expertise of a team of breast health specialists might be needed (depending on the type of disease diagnosed). Each month, these professionals come together for a Comprehensive Breast Day Meeting at the Methodist Diagnostic Center, located directly across from the medical center. The breast health team includes breast surgeons, radiologists, medical and radiation oncologists, reconstructive (plastic) surgeons and a breast health navigator.
At the Comprehensive Breast Day Meeting, the breast health team sits down together to discuss each individual patient’s medical history and test results. After the team develops a treatment plan, a breast surgeon and the breast health navigator explain the recommended treatment and possible options with the patient and her family the same day. For more information on the Comprehensive Breast Day Meeting, call (309) 671-7779.
What is a breast health navigator?
A breast health navigator is an advocate who represents the physical, psychological, social and emotional needs of each patient and her family. She answers patients’ questions and explains medical procedures. She also provides comfort, compassion and emotional support.
The breast health navigator helps the patient and her family to cope with the life changes that accompany a breast disease diagnosis. She also serves as a liaison between the patient and physicians to ensure better patient understanding of medical recommendations. She coordinates care, ordering any necessary tests, treatment and follow-up care prescribed by the breast health team.
Methodist’s breast health navigator is a registered radiologic technologist with specialized certification in mammography. She is also a registered breast sonographer, qualifying her to perform ultrasound exams of the breast. TPW