Specialists encourage mammograms

OSF ST. Mary Medical CenterWith just over a week left in National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, local physicians are encouraging people to get checked.

OSF St. Mary Medical Center Mammographer Wendi Hook, who has specialized in giving mammograms since 2005, says her hospital has technology that makes it a leader in identifying breast cancer.

Hook tells Galesburg Evening News on WGIL that St. Mary’s has two mammography units that create 3-D imaging of the breast.

“2-D is — you just look at the image from the outside,” Hook says. “3-D, you’re actually taking layers through the breast, every millimeter, sort of like looking through the pages of a book. You’re taking layers, you’re taking a picture every millimeter, putting them together so the physician can look through the entire breast.”

She adds the 3-D system detects invasive breast cancers 41 percent more effectively and reduces false positives by a similar percentage.

“It’s important,” Hook says, “because breast cancer is one of the easiest cancers to cure and to take care of if it’s detected early and it effects a lot of women.”

Specialists recommend women over the age of 40 have a mammogram done as often as once every year.

 

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