St. Mary's Breast Center has state-of-the-art diagnostic technology to provide clear answers.

Digital Mammography
The Breast uses the most accurate tool for early detection: digital mammograms, which are X-ray images of the breast tissue. Compared to conventional mammograms, digital provides a clearer, brighter image, helping identify areas of concern sooner - particularly for women who are under 50, are premenopausal or have dense breast tissue.

In addition to advanced digital mammography, the Breast Center uses computer-aided detection technology that serves as a second set of eyes for radiologists reviewing each mammogram. This technology has been shown to find 8 to 19 percent more cancers.

Call 314-768-8353 to schedule your screening mammogram or request an appointment online

Breast Ultrasound
Breast ultrasound helps diagnose breast abnormalities seen on a mammogram or detected by a physician during a physical exam. This test is effective at determining if a suspicious area is a harmless fluid-filled cyst versus a tumor.

Breast MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive medical test that helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions. Using a powerful magnetic field, MRI of the breast offers valuable information about many breast conditions that cannot be obtained by other imaging modalities, such as mammography or ultrasound. The test does not use radiation.

Ultrasound-guided Breast Biopsy
Ultrasound is also used to help guide physicians to a suspicious area for biopsy procedures. Biopsy is a procedure to remove tissue samples from the affected area to examine for diagnosis. Biopsy may be done surgically or through insertion of a needle to the suspicious area.

MRI-guided Breast Biopsy
In MRI-guided breast biopsy, magnetic resonance imaging is used to help guide the interventional radiologist's instruments to the site of the abnormal growth. An MRI-guided breast biopsy is most helpful when MR imaging shows a breast abnormality such as a suspicious solid mass, tiny clusters of small calcium deposits, distortion in the structure of the breast tissue, or new masses in a previous surgery site.

Sterotactic Breast Biopsy
In stereotactic breast biopsy, a special mammography machine uses ionizing radiation to help guide the surgeon's instruments to the site of the abnormal growth. The Breast Center is equipped to perform this procedure both prone (lying face down) and upright (for women uncomfortable or unable to lie face down).

Treatment Services
If diagnostic testing indicates the presence of breast cancer, women today have many effective treatment options to help them overcome breast cancer. St. Mary's is please to provide the following services.

Surgery
Breast cancer treatment options include surgical procedures for mastectomy or breast conservation therapy (BCT). Mastectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the entire breast and glands under the arms. Mastectomy usually requires a hospital stay. Women who undergo a mastectomy have the option of breast reconstruction.

Breast conservation surgery removes the breast tumor and a margin of surrounding normal tissues. It is also known by other names: lumpectomy and partial mastectomy. The purpose of breast conservation therapy is to give women the same cure rate they would have if they were treated with a mastectomy but to leave the breast intact, with an appearance and texture as close as possible to what they had before treatment.

Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is recommended after a lumpectomy to eliminate any microscopic cancer cells in the remaining breast tissue. Depending on the circumstances, radiation therapy may be delivered in different forms.

St. Mary's Cancer Services offers these forms of radiation for treatment of cancer:

External Beam Therapy: A state-of-the-art linear accelerator directs a beam of high-energy X-rays to the location of the patient's tumor. These targeted X-rays can destroy the cancer cells and careful treatment planning allows the surrounding normal tissues to be spared. No radioactive sources are placed inside the patient's body.

Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy: Also performed with a linear accelerator, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is an advanced mode of high-precision radiotherapy that utilizes computer-controlled X-ray accelerators to deliver precise radiation doses to a malignant tumor or specific areas within the tumor. The radiation dose is designed to conform to the three-dimensional (3-D) shape of the tumor by controlling the intensity of the radiation beam to focus a higher radiation dose to the tumor while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding normal tissues.

Because the ratio of normal tissue dose to tumor dose is reduced to a minimum with the IMRT approach, higher and more effective radiation doses can safely be delivered to tumors with fewer side effects compared with conventional radiotherapy techniques. IMRT also has the potential to reduce treatment toxicity, even when doses are not increased.

Partial-breast Radiation
Most women with early stage breast cancer are candidates for breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy), instead of mastectomy - with the same chances of a good long-term outcome. Lumpectomy surgically removes the cancer, followed by radiation treatments that destroy any cancer cells that might remain following surgery.

The current standard of care is to treat the whole breast with radiation after lumpectomy. But another option is available: partial breast radiation (PBI), or limited-field radiation therapy.
Partial-breast radiation can be given internally (from the inside) or externally (from the outside). The most popular methods are internal radiation using a Mammosite balloon device, and external radiation using small fields from a linear accelerator (a large machine that creates the radiation for treatment). Both options reduce radiation exposure.

Chemotherapy
When breast cancer is limited to the breast or lymph nodes, chemotherapy may be given after a lumpectomy or mastectomy.  This is done to help reduce the chance of breast cancer coming back. If the breast tumor is large, chemotherapy is sometimes given before surgery in order to shrink the tumor so it can be removed more easily or so that a lumpectomy can be performed instead of a mastectomy. Chemotherapy may also be given as the main treatment for women whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body outside of the breast and lymph nodes.

St. Mary's Infusion Center provides chemotherapy services on an outpatient basis for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The Infusion Center is located adjacent to the Breast Center in 1031 Bellevue.

Hormone Therapy
Women diagnosed with breast cancer may be prescribed hormone therapy to help curb the growth, spread, or recurrence of some types of breast cancer. Because some tumors rely on natural hormones to grow, anti-estrogen medications such as Tamoxifen may be effective for some women.

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