Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital

Women's Center

Breast Health Services

Double Breast MRI
Breast Health Services
Stereotactic Breast Biopsy
Warning Signs of Breast Cancer
Appointments
  
   

Double Breast MRI

The extremely sensitive VIBRANT™ double-breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system offers detailed 3-D imaging, helping provide the earliest possible diagnosis of breast cancer. The only double-breast MRI in Houston or Montgomery County, the VIBRANT system most benefits high-risk patients.

This state-of-the-art diagnostic tool captures precise images of both breasts simultaneously without any of the potentially uncomfortable flattening or compression that mammography screening requires. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, dynamic contrast enhanced double breast MRI detects twice as many breast cancers as mammography.
  

Breast Health Services

While most women have heard the message that early detection is the key to surviving breast cancer, many still put off having regular mammograms because it is inconvenient or unpleasant. In our easily accessible and beautiful Center, we provide women of all ages with quality breast health services with minimal discomfort.

• Mammography is the most accurate method of detecting breast cancer today. Mammograms can save lives by helping doctors detect breast cancer in its earliest and most treatable stages.
  The Center’s state-of-the-art mammography system uses low-level X-rays to locate breast lumps and abnormalities, with less discomfort, long before they can be felt by breast self-exam. We provide both screening and diagnostic mammograms. A physician’s order is not required for a routine screening mammogram.
  
• Needle Localization Biopsy is a procedure done prior to a breast biopsy or breast surgery to locate a breast abnormality that can be seen on a mammogram or ultrasound picture but cannot be felt, or to verify the location of a previously diagnosed breast cancer. This procedure is done using a mammogram or ultrasound. A fine, thread-like wire is inserted into the breast as close as possible to the area of concern. With the wire in place, a surgeon can perform a biopsy knowing exactly which area of tissue to remove.

• Breast Ultrasound uses high-frequency soundwaves and can determine whether a lesion is a solid tumor or a fluid-filled cyst. It is especially useful in evaluating suspicious areas in the denser breast tissue of younger women.
   
• Breast Ductograms can pinpoint defects in breast ducts. A dye is discharged into the duct to expose possible defects when the breast is X-rayed.

Stereotactic Breast Biopsy

• This simple and safe procedure performed by our team of breast imaging specialists allows a physician to remove a small section of suspicious breast tissue with pinpoint accuracy.
• Advanced computer imaging technology is used to map the precise location of potentially abnormal areas in the breast that can be seen on a mammogram but cannot be located by touch.
• Once the biopsy is complete, the sample tissue is sent to a pathologist (a physician that specializes in analyzing tissue samples) for microscopic examination

Warning Signs of Breast Cancer

• A visible lump
• Dimpling of the skin
• Change in the skin color or texture
• Change in the appearance of the nipple (retraction or inversion)
• Bloody or spontaneous discharge from the nipple

Women who follow a 3-point regimen of performing monthly breast self exam, undergoing annual exams by their doctors and obtaining annual mammograms after age 40 can increase their breast cancer survival rates up to 97 percent.

For Appointments

To schedule a mammogram, call 281-364-2514.