Enumclaw Regional Hospital has added state-of-the-art digital mammography to its array of outpatient services, broadening the community’s access to advanced medicine and trusted care.

Digital mammography converts X-rays directly into sharp images for the radiologist to review, completely eliminating the degrading effects of light diffusion and producing images of unparalleled clarity and detail.

“With full-field digital mammography, images are captured digitally on a screen instead of film, which particularly benefits examination of dense breast tissue,” said radiologist David Rice, MD, the hospital’s medical director of imaging. “Breast cancer is detected earlier and more often through its use.”

Enumclaw Regional Hospital staff will provide only digital mammograms starting Oct. 10 as film mammograms are discontinued.

Digital mammography is possible at the hospital thanks to the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation, which contributed $496,000 needed to purchase the sophisticated technology. “We are extremely grateful to the Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation for their generous support of our hospital through the years,” said Dennis Popp, the hospital’s chief operating officer. “The Foundation’s purchase of this digital technology is a wonderful testament of its ongoing commitment to ensuring quality health care for our community.”

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The American Cancer Society recommends all women 40 and older undergo a screening mammogram every year. Mammograms can detect cancer early and save lives. The risk for breast cancer increases as women age, but the good news is that breast tissue in senior women is thinner, improving the odds of early detection and successful treatment.

Benefits of digital mammography for patients include greater convenience, increased comfort during the exam, and potentially less exposure to radiation. “The time required for a screening mammogram is reduced using digital imaging,” Dr. Rice said. “Typically with screen film mammography, patients undergo four views, film processing and then technologist review. If additional images are needed, the process has to be repeated. With full-field digital mammography, image processing is immediate, allowing the technologist to reposition the patient and redo an image if necessary.”

Because technologists can view the images within seconds and confirm proper positioning, this reduces the likelihood that patients will be called back for additional images to be made. Over- and underexposed images need not be redone because they can be electronically enhanced to improve clarity and allow acceptable tissue visualization; this results in fewer repeat images and less patient exposure to radiation.

Also, digital-image data archiving and retrieval are improved with digital technology because no studies are lost and there’s no need to store films. “If necessary, we are able to send images electronically to a breast specialist in another location for a second opinion,” Dr. Rice said.

Enumclaw Regional Hospital, which has served the community since 1946, affiliated with the Franciscan Health System in 2007. Enumclaw Regional Hospital joins St. Francis Hospital, the Franciscan acute-care facility in Federal Way, as the only Franciscan Health System hospitals offering digital mammography.

To schedule a digital mammogram at Enumclaw Regional Hospital, call (360) 802-3223. To schedule a digital mammogram at the Women’s Health & Breast Center at St. Francis, call (253) 944-4025. In addition to breast-imaging, the Women’s Health & Breast Center at St. Francis offers a wide range of services for women of all ages such as ultrasound; non-invasive physical therapy and biofeedback treatments for incontinence and pelvic pain; bone density tests; alternative medicine and therapies; and educational resources.