The Digital Mammography Unit at Elk Regional Health Center is celebrating an eventful and successful first year.

Since its inception in July 2009, when Elk Regional became the first hospital in the region to offer state-of-the-art digital mammography, the Digital Mammography Unit has earned accreditation through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American College of Radiology.

Also in its first year, Elk Regional's Digital Mammography Unit earned a deficiency-free review by the Mammography Quality Standards Act.

Jill Holtzhauser, lead mammography technician at Elk Regional, said the Digital Mammography Unit passed its first accreditation inspection “with flying colors.”

“We were told that we are doing an exemplary job,” Holtzhauser said. “We’ve taken a big step by going from film mammography to digital. And when it comes to mammography, our patients can take comfort in the fact that they have access to cutting edge, state-of-the-art care.”

Gregory P. Bauer, the President and CEO of Elk Regional Health System, said the accreditations and deficiency-free MQSA review mean Elk Regional's Digital Mammography Unit is “doing something right.”

“That’s important to me,” Bauer said. “Our Digital Mammography Unit offers the absolute best in cutting-edge care to women in our area. Women can feel confident and secure when they come to us for their care.”

Digital mammography provides radiologists with clear and precise digital images of a breast. Elk Regional's new full-field digital mammography system provides the largest field of view currently available, which can be extremely helpful for imaging of patients of diverse shapes and sizes. Radiologists are able to manipulate the digital image, adjusting for size, brightness and contrast in order to see areas of interest more clearly.

Digital images are ready to review within 10 seconds and are acquired in about half the time of a traditional film mammography, which means working women can more easily take advantage of the high-tech diagnostic tool. If a second opinion is needed, the image can be sent electronically to a consulting physician virtually instantaneously.

In addition to improving patient outcomes, the benefits of digital mammography are numerous. Digital mammography uses a far lower radiation dose than standard film mammography, reduces breast compression pressure and offers dramatically improved breast cancer detection rates as compared to traditional film mammography.

Elk Regional was able to pursue the development of a digital mammography suite thanks to $100,000 in state funding and another $85,000 in grant funding from the A.J. and Sigismunda Palumbo Charitable Trust.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To make obtaining a mammogram easier for the working woman, Elk Regional Health Center’s Mammography Department is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Department is conveniently located in a private location in the Women's Imaging Suite in the Medical Office Building at Elk Regional Health Center. To schedule an appointment, call 788-5444.