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A kinder, gentler test

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BY CHERYL BENTLEY

SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF

Published: October 22, 2008

Anondescript foam cushion is coming between women and their mammography machines.

And that's none too soon, say women like Hudson resident Sharon Longshaw. Mammograms are low-dose x-rays of the breast to detect breast cancer.

Longshaw used to find mammograms uncomfortable. The surface of the mammography machine's table, upon which breasts are placed while a mammogram is created, is both hard and cold.

But now, her radiologist places the MammoPad, a soft foam pad, atop the image detector. It both cushions the breasts and takes away the cold of the surface of the mammography machine's table.

The MammoPad was developed by breast surgeon Dr. Gail Lebovic. The pad is a single-use, adhesive-backed foam cushion that adheres to the table, thereby creating a cushion between the patient and the machine. It doesn't interfere with the image quality.

"It's much easier," Longshaw said of mammograms with MammoPads. "From the comfort level, I was really amazed at the difference. I was impressed." The experience with the MammoPad has made her less inclined to want to put off scheduling a mammography, Longshaw observed.

With the importance of mammograms heightened in October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, MammoPads appear to be another step to encourage women to get mammograms.

The American Cancer Society recommends women 40 and older get them yearly but notes 40 percent of them fail to observe this guideline.

Mammograms are key tools in the early detection of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, accounting for more than one in four female cancers. Only lung cancer causes more deaths in women.

The earlier the detection, the greater the survival rate. The National Breast Cancer Foundation notes the five-year survival rate for Stage I breast cancer, in which the cancer is no larger than an inch and has not spread to surrounding lymph nodes, is 98 percent.

MammoPads appear to be a softer, gentler way of encouraging women to get the tests. "They make it a little more comfortable for us women who have to get them every year," said radiologic technologist Deborah Mascia. Mascia's company, Pasco Imaging & Open MRI Center, in Hudson, has used the MammoPads since April. There is no extra charge when the pads are used.

In the beginning, Mascia asked patients if they wanted to use them, but because of the almost universal positive response, she now uses them routinely as part of the mammogram.

"They say, 'Wow, that didn't hurt. The last time, it hurt,'" she reports.

That reaction appears to be a common one. A study in "The Breast Journal" found that in 505 women surveyed, 73 percent experienced a significant reduction in discomfort by using the pads.

Another study in the radiology journal "Radiologica" found the pads did not change image quality.

To contact Pasco Imaging & Open MRI Center, call 727-697-0100. For more information, and locations of facilities that offer the MammoPad, visit www.MammoPad.com>.

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