Indiana University Health Frankfort is now offering extended hours for screening mammograms until 6:30 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
“Women are often busy caretakers who focus on others over themselves. At IU Health Frankfort, we are striving to remove barriers so women have more options to easily schedule their screening mammogram,” stated Kelly Braverman, president of IU Health Frankfort Hospital.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women in the U.S., second only to skin cancer. Getting mammograms regularly can lower the risk of dying from breast cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends women between the ages of 40 and 44 years old have a baseline screening mammogram and then an annual mammogram after age 45.
Mammography is specialized medical imaging that uses a low-dose x-ray system to see inside the breasts. A mammography exam, called a mammogram, aids in the early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases in women.
Mammography remains the gold standard for screening for early stage breast cancer. Digital mammography allows the radiologist to capture and manipulate the images so abnormalities can be seen more easily. For example, in women with dense fibrocystic breast tissue, their breast tissue appears white on a mammogram. Complicating this is that tumors are also white. But with digital mammograms the radiologist can manipulate the contrasts of the images, making them darker or lighter, allowing for the masses to be identified. The images can also be enlarged on the computer to focus on areas of concern.