Maya McFadden Photo
Yale New Haven Health is bringing the first van in the U.S equipped with both 3D-mammography and breast ultrasound screening to the streets of New Haven.
According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, breast cancer diagnoses declined by as much as 51.8 percent nationwide from March 1 to April 18 as a result of annual doctors’ appointments being cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19. Some experts have warned of a flood of diagnoses, potentially detrimentally late for some women.
The idea to send out a high-tech van came from the senior manager of breast imaging at Yale Radiology, Jacquelyn Crenshaw.
When Crenshaw attended a radiology conference in 2013, she discovered the use of 3D-mammograms and suggested of making it mobile.
She noted that a state breast density law passed in 2009 requires doctors to tell women if they have dense breast tissue and how it could impact the results of their mammogram.
Jacquelyn Crenshaw and Susan Bysiewicz.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz visited Yale New Haven Health’s mobile unit Friday to check out the new van and to encourage women to get routine breast cancer screenings. Bysiewicz said she has remained hyperaware of the disease after seeing her aunt, mother, and sister all be diagnosed with it.
“I know my family’s medical history,” Bysiewicz said. “This needs to be accessible.”
Bysiewicz toured the condensed exam rooms, which resembled a hospital’s, except on wheels. She said the two-room van reminded her of an airplane inside.
This is Yale New Haven Health’s fourth mobile mammography van.
The replaced 2D-mammography was ten years old. The 3D-mammography provides the highest quality breast imaging possible to patients by taking 15 slices during a mammography to produce two quality images.
Breast ultrasounds have helped to increase early detection cases, Crenshaw said. She compared identifying irregularities in breasts with dense tissue on a mammogram with finding a needle in a hay stack.
“I’ve been able to get ultrasounds more recently, and that second check always gives me a sigh of relief,” Bysiewicz said.
Some women aged 40 and up do not get mammograms regularly. Otten diagnoses come too late. Crenshaw said there is also a lack of awareness of the need for breast exams particularly in communities of color.
With the van’s 3D-mammography and breast ultrasound equipment, women with primary physicians can get screened in a hour, with results back in about a day.
The van will make these essential annual breast exams for residents more convenient and accessible, said Crenshaw. In 2017 Connecticut was amongst the top ten states with the highest rates of breast cancer in women.
During exams the van system transmits the machine images in real time to the hospital.
The Yale New Haven Hospital Auxiliary pledged $500,000 to the van project, which totaled $1.2 million.
The mobile unit will travel to New Haven neighborhoods to reach those often underserved.
The van is not currently taking walk-ons, due to Covid-19. Patients are required to schedule an appointment. The mobile unit has accumulated a backlog of rescheduled appointments made during the pandemic. Click here to make an appointment.
Three radiology technicians will work on the van daily. Crenshaw is working to cross-train all of the technicians in mammography and ultrasonography so patients can feel more comfortable having the same technicians during appointments. Technicians will be dressed in face shields and protective growns while working.
Upon entering the van patients, will stand in front of a temperature screening kiosk done with facial recognition.
The plan is to conduct 18 mammogram and eight breast ultrasound exams per day.
The van is booked for its first day of work on Tuesday at 150 Sargent Dr.