FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information:
Feb. 17, 2004 INTEGRIS Health Media Relations
(405) 636.7403
E-mail: elizabeth.lowry@integris-health.com

INTEGRIS Comprehensive Breast Center Moves,Offers
Advanced Technology, Convenient Parking

OKLAHOMA CITY - One in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. However, 90 percent of breast cancer can be treated successfully if the cancer is detected early. Now, the INTEGRIS Comprehensive Breast Center offers some of the most advanced screening and diagnostic technology in the area at its new location, just west of INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center.

"Our services are located in an outpatient setting for ease of access, however, still closely located to the INTEGRIS campus for a complete, comprehensive approach to breast care including surgical, pathology, and oncology services," says Jake Brownlow, director of Radiology for INTEGRIS Baptist.

In addition to offering traditional mammography and ultrasound, the INTEGRIS Comprehensive Breast Center is adding a magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) dedicated to screening for breast abnormalities. The MRI, which weighs 12,000 pounds, uses a magnetic field and radio frequency to create pictures of the breasts and has a higher resolution than other MRIs available in Oklahoma City, Brownlow says.

An MRI is used to view breasts prior to surgeries, and it allows physicians to perform biopsies more accurately. It also is used to screen patients with a genetic disposition to breast cancer and those with breast implants, which can make mammograms difficult to read.

Other new technology at the breast center includes digital mammography and computer aided detection. An analog - or traditional -- mammogram records an image of the breast on film. A digital mammogram captures a higher resolution image electronically using less radiation.

"A radiologist studies digital mammograms on a computer, allowing the mammogram to be manipulated so the radiologist can see abnormalities that might not be visible on film," Brownlow says.

"Once a radiologist interprets an analog or digital mammogram, computer aided detection can be used to alert the radiologist to areas that need an another look."

And because the breast center also is directly linked to pathology at INTEGRIS Baptist patients are routinely guaranteed biopsy results within 24 hours, he says.

Radiologist Dr. Jill Hast joins fellow radiologists Dr. Robert Streight and Dr. Murray Hamilton. The breast center also has six registered mammographers and one nurse.

The INTEGRIS Breast Center had been located in a 4,000 square foot space in Building D on the INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center Campus. The new location has double the square footage and convenient parking. The new breast center was designed to be patient-centered.

"The first thing that our patients will notice is that parking is literally at the front door," Brownlow says.

The expanded waiting room has two areas - one for women getting screening mammograms and another for those waiting for diagnostic procedure which "allows for a comfortable and openly spacious facility while being sensitive to the differing needs of these patients," according to Brownlow.

The INTEGRIS Comprehensive Breast Center, One Corporate Plaza, 3525 N.W. 56th St., Suite C-100, is just west of the INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center on the north side of N.W. 56th Street, west of the Lake Hefner Parkway. To schedule an appointment, women may call at 945-0045.