Delphinus SoftVue™ Imaging
Reimagine women's imaging with SoftVue™
Our team at Women’s Imaging is excited to be the first in the state of Louisiana to offer the SoftVue™ system to provide one-of-a-kind care for our patients with dense breasts. Did you know having dense breasts can increase your risk of developing breast cancer? And unfortunately, most traditional mammograms miss about 50% of cancers in women with dense breasts.
What does it mean to have dense breasts?
How does SoftVue™ differ from mammography?
The SoftVue™ experience
- Breasts are made up of different types of tissue and fat, and when there is more tissue present than fat, the breast is considered dense. Mammography’s accuracy is limited in dense breasts because both breast tissue and cancers appear white on mammography which means cancer can hide in dense breast tissue on x-ray, even with the advancements of digital and 3D mammography. Since dense breast tissue can increase your cancer risk, it’s important to know your breast density. The amount of tissue in your breasts determines your density category. There are 4 categories used to determine breast density.
- Breast density is determined by mammography and having dense breasts is normal as around 50% of women over the age of 40 have dense breasts. Having dense breasts, defined as falling into categories c or d increases the risk of developing breast cancer and is a greater risk factor than having two first degree relatives with breast cancer.
- SoftVue™ was created with you in mind and helps address the many problems associated with imaging dense breasts. SoftVue™ does not use x-ray to image the breast. SoftVue™ is based on ultrasound technology, meaning it operates with the same kind of harmless soundwaves used to image babies in pregnant women. Cancers are easier to detect on ultrasound because sound can move through dense tissue to detect cancer that is blocked by dense tissue on x-ray. In fact, SoftVue™ has proven to detect 20% more cancers when combined with standard mammography for women with dense breasts. In addition, rather than just having one type of image to review for possible cancers, SoftVue produces 4 different image sets of each breast that radiologists can use to determine if cancer is present. That is four times the imaging power, giving radiologists more diagnostic confidence compared to just reviewing mammography alone.
- The experience is easy and comfortable, with no compression or radiation and takes an average of 2 minutes to scan each breast. SoftVue™ uses a circular imaging ring that surrounds the breast while it is immersed in warm water. The imaging ring emits soundwaves that travel through and around the breast capturing images every 2 millimeters as it moves from the nipple to the chest wall.
- After both breasts have been scanned, the physician is presented with full-volume images of each breast, incorporating 4 image sequences, that is reviewed alongside mammography images to determine if there are any areas of concern. More than 90% of women who have experienced the SoftVue™ exam rate it as one of the more comfortable breast imaging exams they have experienced and would recommend it to other women.
Ask your doctor if you'd benefit from a SoftVue™ breast screening, or click the button below to make an appointment with an LCMC Health Women’s Health provider.
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