Local women concerned about breast cancer have reason to celebrate. Lawrenceburg’s Dearborn County Hospital is the first in America to offer a Screening Breast MRI Study. At least 1,000 participants will receive a free breast MRI through the clinical research study - and the peace of mind that only early detection can give.
MRI technology can find smaller cancers than mammograms. One in 20 women with normal mammogram readings have a cancer detected by the breast MRI.
“We feel very strongly that our findings will ultimately help prolong or save the lives of millions of women,” said Roger Howard, DCH Director of Clinical Services and Facilities. “In 2008, mammograms were performed on more than 4,800 women at our three DCH mammography sites. Given there are thousands of mammography sites across the country, the potential number of women positively affected by this advance could be enormous.”
Normally, clinical trials of this size are limited to teaching hospitals in major metropolitan areas. Peter V. Resnick, DCH’s Executive Director, expressed his gratitude to Lawrenceburg City Council and Mayor Bill Cunningham for donating $750,000 and the Dearborn Community Foundation for donating $100,000 toward equipment capital. Other donors include the United Way, Ohio County Community Foundation, and DCH’s own Foundation and Hospital Auxiliary. Resnick believes that free screening and interpretation allows “a broad cross-section of women [to] take part.”
“While our primary goal is to help prolong or save the lives of women in the region, our secondary goal is to determine if Screening Breast MRI is superior to screening mammography in early cancer detection,” said Howard. He expressed hope that the study would pave the way for Screening Breast MRI to be covered by most insurance plans. More accurate detection, without mammography’s radiation exposure, is a win-win for Cincinnati women.
To qualify for DCH’s Screening Breast MRI study, women must have a recent normal mammogram and meet other medical requirements. DCH is scheduling in-person and telephone interviews on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact Dearborn Hospital Radiology at (800) 676-5572, ext. 2611.
Writer: Elena Stevenson
Source: Anita Benning Trennepohl, Director of Community Relations for Dearborn County Hospital
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