Mammograms: “Best Chance for Survival”

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month; according to a doctor who works in imaging, mammograms are the best chance for survival and a better prognosis.

Dr. Drew Sessions from North Arkansas Regional Medical Center (NARMC) Imaging Services spoke with KHOZ’s Around The Table on Wednesday about finding breast cancer early and the new 3D imaging technology. Sessions is a radiologist with Radiology Associates of the Ozarks who works primarily with NARMC. “We work in diagnosing breast cancer. We see a lot of early-stage breast cancers; unfortunately, we see some that are a little later stage,” Sessions said. The goal of screening with mammograms is to find early cancer. “That is our best chance for survival, and that is a much better long-term prognosis.”

Sessions said any woman over 40 needs to have a mammogram annually. He added that should a woman or her clinician find anything wrong with her breasts “they need to immediately come, get imaging and try to work things out.” He also discussed the 3D imaging technology for mammograms.

“Somewhere within the last 15 months or so” Sessions said that NARMC updated their mammogram technology from the traditional 2D machine to a 3D machine. He said the difference between the two is like that of an X-ray and a CT scan. “You’re getting so many more images, so much more information.” Sessions said they have been trying to get this technology for a couple of years. “I know we’ve diagnosed many less than one-centimeter breast cancers, so very early stage,” he said.