Western General equips for 3D breast imaging

Hologic breast health sales specialist Lynne Callan, senior mammographers Julie Keanie and Carol Lindsay, superintendent radiographer Mandy Stewart and senior mammographers Leanne Boddie and Jackie King.

Superintendent radiographer at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital Mandy Stewart leads a team of mammographers in a busy unit that deals with over 22,000 patients a year.  The unit was the first to embrace 3D breast imaging and tomosynthesis biopsy, with the purchase of the Hologic Selenia Dimension mammography unit.

The three room department is staffed by 4.5 FTE radiographers and has nine radiologists doing sessions. “The Selenia Dimensions unit is the busiest of the three units we have and also the fastest, particularly when it comes to tomo biopsy work,” explained Stewart. “Since we commissioned this unit I can say it has halved the time taken for an average biopsy examination and enabled us to keep pace with the substantial growth in workload we have faced in the last year.

“The staff prefer this system, as it is easy to use and its ergonomic design gives the flexibility that is needed in a department of this type with the range of breast imaging and biopsy requests we receive.”

See the full report on page 3 of the December 2015 issue of RAD Magazine.