Even shorter waiting times and improved patient comfort: these are the goals that the Breast Care Clinic at Clinic Saint-Jean has achieved with the recent acquisition of a brand new, next-generation mammography unit.
Our team of radiologists now examines patients using two tomosynthesis devices, which provide the best breast imaging in terms of accuracy and speed. The new unit offers 3D tomosynthesis and introduces several new benefits:
- Tomosynthesis can be done faster (making the examination even more comfortable for the patient);
- A more rounded shape makes the unit more ergonomic, so that it fits the shape of the breast even better;
- Tomosynthesis captures a series of images of the breast at different angles, unlike the two images used in conventional stereotaxy. Our radiologists can make an extremely reliable diagnosis with the help of these millimetre-by-millimetre sections. The breast examination is completed with an ultrasound (for which we also use a new machine).
- The radiologists can use the unit to take biopsies using tomosynthesis (unlike most other units, which use stereotaxy) when microcalcifications and/or distortions are found but not correlated by the ultrasound.
- This mammography unit uses X-rays in low doses.
- Radiologists can use it for contrast-enhanced mammograms, in which a dye is injected into a vein. This type of examination is offered to patients who suffer from claustrophobia, for example, and whose circumstances (e.g. cancer) mean that they need extra imaging.
For all appointments or urgent advice, please contact the Breast Care Clinic team on 02/221.97.97 or by email at senologie@clstjean.be.
Urgent consultations without appointment are available every Thursday morning, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon.