New Breast MRI Coil Introduced

Posted on: 09/26/2008

New Equipment at Windsong Radiology Group Helps to Better Detect Breast Cancer

Windsong Radiology Group is proud to be the first in the Northeastern United States to offer a state of the art Breast MRI Coil, the Sentinelle Vanguard.  There are only 3 others of its kind; which can be found in Utah, Arizona and Montreal, Canada.

The Sentinelle Vanguard coil brings the imaging coils closer to the breast so it better accommodates women of different sizes. It also allows women to keep their arms to their sides during the procedure, which, along with a superior padding design, provides better patient comfort and reduces body motion yielding a more accurate test.

“This coil is advantageous in allowing better biopsy accessibility to lesions that are closer to the chest wall than we have in the past” said Anna Chen, DO a board-certified Women’s Imager with Windsong Radiology Group.

The American Cancer Society last year revised its guidelines to recommend MRI examinations for certain women with an especially high risk of breast cancer in addition to annual mammograms.

The ACS recommends MRI screenings for women who meet at least one of the following conditions:
• Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation
• Women with a first-degree relative (parent, sibling or child) with the above gene mutation
• Women exposed to chest-area radiation between the ages of 10 and 30
• A lifetime risk of breast cancer scored at 20%-25% or greater based on one of the several accepted risk assessment tools.

“While mammograms are still the screening test of choice for the whole population, some women will benefit from the enhanced images produced by the breast MRI examination,” Dr. Chen added.

“Where Patients Come First” Throughout the 21 years of service to WNY community, Dr. Sung and the entire team of radiologists, technologists and staff have remained focused on that goal.

The Windsong Radiology Group is proud to provide a full range of diagnostic imaging services, including Mammography, Ultrasound, Bone Density, X-Ray, CT, MRI, Nuclear Medicine and Western New York’s first PET/CT scanner for cancer imaging.