TRAVERSE CITY -- At Munson Medical Center's Smith Family Breast Health Center, a new form of technology is improving the experience that a woman goes through when having a breast-biopsy done.
       
"The specimen imager decreases the time that the patient is in the room under compression.  it used to be that we'd have to displace the patient and that would delay workup.  it allows more time with the patients," says radiologist Dr. Todd Wilson.

The new specimen imager went into use in April.  It was made possible through a $75 thousand grant from the Munson Healthcare Regional Foundation.  Dr. Wilson, says the new equipment also creates a faster turnaround time for patients.

"We take small specimens as small as we can to get the diagnosis.  On occasion more than one specimen needs to be taken and that means more imagining .  More imagining needs for rapid turnaround and that's what the specimen imager provides," says Dr. Wilson.

"It's really cut down on the amount of time that they're waiting to hear us say we've biopsied the correct area.  We can't give them results, only the pathologist can do that but we can x-ray it and say 'yes' we are in the right spot," says mammography technologist, Hilary Tarsney.

Tarsney says the specimen imager can help with quicker results and ultimately improve the experience for women getting mammograms and biopsies.

"It's much more streamlined, everything flows easily.  We still have to have someone come into the room but we call before so someone is already here," says Tarsney.

"It's such a great experience that makes it more comfortable for them.  It will be patients that have had biopsies in the past that come back and notice the difference.  It's a dramatic change," says Dr. Wilson.

It's a change that could not have been possible without the support of the Munson Healthcare Regional Foundation.

"It's a great feeling.  We really couldn't do a lot of what we do here in this entire facility without the support," says Tarsney.

For more information about the health services at the Smith Family Breast Health Center click here.