New mammography van driven by technology.

• Author: Tobenkin, David

It's not your mother's mammography van.

So say doctors at Providence Imaging Center (PIC) of their newly unveiled 33-foot mobile mammography coach designed to help detect breast cancer. Unlike previous mobile mammography vans deployed by PIC, an affiliate of Providence Health System of Alaska, the vehicle is self-sufficient and jam-packed with new state-of-the-art digital imaging technology.

The coach, unveiled this past May, contains digital equipment that includes a digital mammography machine and a computer-aided detection device that applies a computer algorithm to image data to detect and mark areas of possible interest. The new equipment, which cost $326,000 and was contributed by PIC, will allow women visiting the coach to receive the same high-quality images as women who come to PIC facilities in Anchorage, said PIC Medical Director Denise Farleigh.

"We'd been pretty happy with our conventional film screen unit contained in a small van with a hydraulic lift, but we were limited in what we could do and it was clear we needed to replace the aging machine which had been failing," Farleigh said. "The new coach contains the very same piece of equipment we have in Anchorage, but now it can go around the state. The advantages for patients include that fewer repeats are necessary because the technologist sees images as she takes them and can reject and retake them. That's particularly important when you're at a remote location like Valdez or Cordova for a week and can't easily go back later to get another image.

"In addition, digital mammography is better at examining dense breast tissue in younger women for signs of breast cancer," she continued. "We implemented digital imaging a year ago in the hospital and I know I've found cancers that I wouldn't have before then."

The new vehicle, which cost an additional $250,000, is a self-contained unit. The earlier van was a glorified equipment lorry that had to be unpacked and set up at a local facility that provided an examination room, a waiting area, and power to run the mammography equipment. Now, from the waiting area in front of the vehicle to the screened changing area next to the mammography station and the built-in diesel generators, the coach is completely self-contained.

The purchase of the vehicle itself was made possible through a collaboration of Carrs/Safeway stores throughout the state, Providence Alaska...