Just months after celebrating a major achievement with its 10th anniversary, the Breast Health Centre at St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside has reached another major milestone, performing their 1,000th Contrast Enhanced Mammogram.

Contrast Enhanced Mammography represents the latest in breast imaging technology and combines traditional mammography with advanced contrast techniques which produce functional images, enabling clinicians to better visualise breast lesions with an increased blood supply.  

This technology is appropriate for women who have radiologically dense breast tissue and those who are at increased risk of breast cancer due to their personal or family history.

It’s a significant milestone worth celebrating in Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The Breast Health Centre, a joint initiative between St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside and LUMUS Imaging, has grown from having one clinical nurse and two breast physicians and seeing around 1000 patients a year in 2015 - to now having a team of seven nurses and four breast physicians and consulting to around 5000 patients each year.

The centre has been dedicated to providing women with the highest standard of breast imaging, offering diagnostic services in a welcoming, patient-focused environment.  

While the Centre took a couple of years from concept, through to the planning stage and eventually to the opening of the centre in April 2015 - the lifesaving and life-changing care, skill and service that the dedicated team in the Breast Health Centre has provided to tens of thousands of women over the decade, can’t be measured.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and an important time to highlight awareness, vigilance and lifesaving research. 

Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, with nine people losing their lives to the disease every day. Every year over 21,000 people in Australia (including around 200 men) will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Dr Andrijich encouraged women to be “Breast Aware” this month – and every month!

“Women are eligible to commence breast screening from age 40, however we encourage women to speak to their GP and discuss their own personal and family history to determine when to start,” he says.

“Knowing what their breasts normally look and feel like will help women notice when there is a change. They should see their GP if they have any breast concerns or notice something unusual.”

Dr Andrijich says the Breast Health Centre has an experienced and highly skilled team which provides an excellent diagnostic service with breast physicians and breast care nurses, who collaborate with its dedicated breast radiologists, mammographers and sonographers to provide a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach to diagnosis.