Cancer Center Annual Report 2006 - St. Mary Medical Center

ST. MARY BREAST CENTER
In September 2006, St. Mary Medical
Center opened a Breast Center dedicated
to comprehensive breast care, continuing
St. Mary’s tradition of providing specialized
care for women. At the Breast Center, a
team approach offers patients a specialist
for every need. The dedicated staff includes
talented breast surgeons who work closely
with colleagues from Surgery, Pathology,
Radiology, Medical Oncology, and Radiation
Oncology. Specialized clinicians work
together to provide coordinated treatment
plans that are appropriate to the individual
needs of women.
A Breast Nurse Specialist coordinates
support resources, accompanying women
through the entire process of diagnostic
testing with advanced digital imaging and —
if faced with an abnormal mammogram
result — follow-up studies such as minimally
invasive breast biopsies. Each patient
receives emotional support as well as expert
care, ranging from chemotherapy and
radiation oncology to surgery and breast
reconstruction.
The Breast Center’s full array of the most
advanced women’s health technology
includes:
Digital Mammography
Computer-Aided Detection (CAD)
Breast Ultrasound
Breast MRI
Breast IMRT
Bone Densitometry
Ultrasound-Guided Biopsy
Stereotactic Biopsy
Sentinel Node Biopsy
Breast Localization Procedure
Breast Brachytherapy
RADIATION ONCOLOGY
The Radiation Oncology Department here at
St. Mary Regional Cancer Center has been
providing outstanding cancer care services
to the community since 1988. St. Mary
Cancer Center offers a team of prominent
physicians, medical physicists, dosimetrists,
nurses, therapists, and administrative
support staff, who accompany our patients
as they journey through this experience.
The Cancer Center currently has a stateof-the-art
Linear Accelerator with a 120
dynamic multi-leaf collimator, with IMRT
(Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy)
capability. IMRT enables the radiation
oncologist to focus the maximum amount
of radiation specifically on cancerous tissue,
while sparing exposure to healthy surrounding
tissue.
Since 1994 the Radiation Oncology
Department also has offered prostate
brachytherapy seed implants, as well as
radionuclide therapy for patients with bone
metastases and blood disorders.
HDR (High Dose Rate) brachytherapy was
implemented in December 2006 for our
ANNUAL REPORT 2006
St. Mary Cancer Center
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