DIAGNOSTIC AND SCREENING BREAST IMAGING

Please call 604.927.2130 to book your appointment. Thank you.

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Unattended children are not permitted at MedRay. Please arrange childcare otherwise we are unable to serve you.

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MedRay Imaging is proud to offer Full Field Digital Mammography. 

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Breast Screening

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Breast Screening - 108-3242 Westwood Street, Port Coquitlam

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MedRay Imaging has a new facility serving the BC Cancer Breast Screening Program. Screening Mammograms are for healthy women with no known breast problems who do not have a history of breast cancer or breast implants. Screening Mammograms are recommended for all women in British Columbia between the ages of 40 and 74 at regular intervals every one or two years.

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Screening Mammograms do NOT require a referral from your family doctor. You may arrange your own appointment by calling 604-927-2130. Please have your BC Care Card ready. 

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Mammograms save lives

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They help find cancer when it is small, allowing more treatment options and a better chance of recovery.

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It is estimated that 1 in 8 BC women will get breast cancer in their lifetime.

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Mammograms are safe and effective

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Screening mammograms are considered the international gold standard for detecting breast cancer early. Mammograms can usually find lumps 2 or 3 years before a woman or her primary care provider can feel them.

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Research has shown a 25 percent reduction in deaths from breast cancer among women who regularly screen.

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Your breast cancer risk increases with age

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While women with a family history of breast cancer have a higher than average risk, the biggest risk factor for breast cancer is being a woman over 50 years of age.

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80 percent of breast cancer cases are diagnosed in women 50 years of age or older.

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Breast Ultrasound

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Breast ultrasound is frequently used to evaluate breast abnormalities that are found with screening or diagnostic mammography or during a physician performed clinical breast exam. Ultrasound has the benefit of producing images from many different angles. Ultrasound is excellent at distinguishing between solid tumors and fluid filled cysts.

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Breast ultrasound can also be used to evaluate lumps or masses that are hard to see on a mammogram.

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Breast ultrasound is very useful in imaging patients with palpable masses. The ultrasound probe is placed just above the palpable mass and it can be visualized painlessly and quickly.

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Ultrasound of the breast is commonly used to classify breast lesions in the following types of women:

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• Women with a lesion that cannot be well classified with mammography alone

• Women with fibrocystic breast disease

• Women with dense breasts

• Young women with masses

• Pregnant women with masses

• Women with silicone breast implants

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Breast MRI

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Contrast ­enhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is emerging as the most sensitive method currently available for the detection of breast cancer. The technology allows thin-­slice high ­resolution simultaneous imaging of both breasts with multiphasic dynamic post-­contrast enhancement.

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Indications for contrast-enhanced breast MRI

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A breast MRI is performed when physicians require more information than a mammogram, ultrasound or a clinical breast exam can provide. As such, it is indicated in subgroups of women where it has shown a clear benefit.

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Indications:

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• Staging of known breast cancer

• Evaluation of residual or recurrent tumour

• Unknown primary tumour, in one who has positive axillary lymph nodes

• Breast cancer screening in high risk populations

• Monitor response to chemotherapy

• Problem solving

• Silicone implant evaluation

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Non-contrast-enhanced breast MRI is the imaging method of choice to assess implant integrity in patients with silicone breast prostheses. Although some implant ruptures are detected by mammography and ultrasound, non-contrast-enhanced breast MRI is the most accurate imaging test to determine the integrity of silicone breast implants. Patients with prostheses are also suitable for contrast-enhanced breast MRI examinations designed to detect breast cancer.

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Breast MRI should not substitute mammography or ultrasound as some lobular cancers and ductal carcinoma in situ may not be seen with MRI.

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Diagnostic Mammography

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Diagnostic Mammograms are specialized breast x-rays. These breast x-rays are available at MedRay Imaging only and are not available at the Screening Mammography Program of British Columbia.

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MedRay Imaging is proud to offer Full Field Digital Mammography. In 2013, we transitioned from film to digital, which provides improved diagnostic capabilities, less exposure, and greater image and report portability.