By Sonia Lavina
October is breast cancer awareness month and Tower Radiology Center is leading the way in breast imaging. Patients often wait two to three months from the time of their abnormal mammogram for a diagnosis. “With the creation of our Comprehensive Breast Program at Tower Radiology Center we have decreased this wait time to two to three weeks,” explains Dr. Lester. “That is what makes our radiology centers unique to the greater Tampa Bay Area.”
Katie Jo Lester, M.D. completed her Breast Imaging fellowship at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, and is one of nine board-certified, subspecialized Women’s Imaging radiologists with Tower Radiology Center, comprised also of Scott Anderson, M.D., Shelly P. Baumann, M.D., FACR, Miguel H. Del Toro, M.D., John Feldman, M.D., David Germain, M.D., Claude Guidi, M.D., Todd Kumm, M.D., and JoAnn Gierbolini, M.D.
Tower Radiology Center was designated Tampa Bay’s first Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology. Women’s Imaging services offered include digital mammograms, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, and breast biopsies. Breast biopsies are done using ultrasound, MRI, and stereotactic guidance. But unique to Tower Radiology Center is its Comprehensive Breast Program.
As Dr. Lester explains, the Comprehensive Breast Program streamlines the process of diagnosing breast cancer. With Tower’s Comprehensive Breast Program, the patient needs only a single prescription. If the mammogram is abnormal, the patient can immediately be scheduled for additional imaging. If a biopsy is then needed, the procedure can also be scheduled immediately. Throughout the process, a specially trained Nurse Navigator is communicating with the patient every step of the way.
Tower Radiology Center’s Breast Imaging Team of Radiologists is now exploring a new advanced breast imaging system, 3D Mammography or Breast Tomosynthesis, which they hope will be a new addition to their outpatient centers in 2015. “3D Mammography takes multiple images of the breasts and reconstructs the images to create a 3D view of the entire breast which can be viewed slice by slice. This can help differentiate overlapping normal breast tissue from a mass, which both increases the cancer detection rate and decreases unnecessary additional imaging. The radiation dose has just recently been made equivalent to a digital mammogram, prompting Tower’s radiologists to purchase the new technology to add to their repertoire of breast imaging tools.” Dr. Lester explains.
Physician owned and operated since 1992 in the greater Tampa Bay Area, Tower Radiology Center offers 12 convenient outpatient centers located throughout Brandon, Riverview, Tampa and Wesley Chapel. For more information, call (813) 24-TOWER or visit www.TowerRadiologyCenter.com.
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