ABUS – Automated Breast Ultrasound

• Available at four of our Calgary locations – Market Mall, Mayfair Place, Southcentre, and The Core.
• ABUS offers whole breast ultrasound for patients with high breast density scores (Volpara).
• Average exam duration: 15 minutes

Complete Breast Assessments

• Available at all Alberta clinics except Aspen Landing, Sunridge, and South Calgary Health Centre.
• Ensures patients get the best imaging for their breast density.
• See general requisitions for booking a complete breast assessment.
• Procedure starts with a screening mammogram and determines a Volpara score for density.
• Based on the score, a diagnostic breast ultrasound or an ABUS may be booked by Mayfair as a supplement for patients with Volpara C score (heterogeneously dense breast tissue) or Volpara D score (extremely dense breast tissue).
• Average exam duration: 15 to 30 minutes for the mammogram plus 15 minutes for ABUS or 45 minutes for handheld breast ultrasound.

Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound

• Available at all Alberta clinics except South Calgary Health Centre.
• Investigates symptoms like pains or lumps.
• Can be a supplemental exam for patients with high Volpara scores (C & D). Can be bilateral (ABUS) or unilateral.
• Ordering a bilateral breast exam may take longer to get an appointment. If a unilateral breast is a concern for your patient, booking a unilateral exam is often quicker.
• Breast ultrasound has not been established as a proven tool for detecting early breast cancer, and there is no evidence that it offers the same benefit as mammography.
• For patients who do not have dense breast tissue (Volpara A & B) and no specific concerns, we ask that ultrasounds not be requested. Adding ultrasounds when not required, can increase the wait times for patients who need breast ultrasounds.
• When presented with a requisition for only a breast ultrasound, Mayfair may elect to also perform a mammogram in addition to the requested ultrasound if it is deemed helpful for the diagnosis. The mammogram would be completed during the same appointment as the breast ultrasound.
• Exam duration: 30 minutes for unilateral (one breast) and 60 minutes for bilateral (2 breasts).

Intervention (Breast Biopsy)

• Available at two of our Calgary clinics – Castleridge and Mayfair Place.
• Exam duration: 30 to 60 minutes
• Available as mammography guided or ultrasound guided breast biopsies.
• Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNA)
• Ultrasound-guided core biopsy
• Stereotactic (mammography-guided) core biopsy
• Wire localization

Mammography – Diagnostic and Screening

• Available at all Alberta clinics except South Calgary Health Centre.
• Low dose 3D mammography resulting in a greater level of detail and clearer view of the breast tissue with the same small dose of radiation as the standard mammogram.
• Literature continues to confirm that mammography is the gold standard for breast cancer detection. Ultrasound would be supplemental to mammography in certain circumstances.
• Average exam duration: 15 to 30 minutes

In all our Alberta clinics offering breast imaging, except for Coventry Hills, patients have the option to assist with compression with our state-of-the-art GE Senographe Pristina mammography system. The system is designed to provide a more comfortable mammogram with patient-assisted compression – a handheld remote that patients can use to adjust the compression of their breast to what’s comfortable for them, under the supervision of a technologist.

Miscellaneous

• Breast MRI is a very sensitive test and there is a subset of patients who benefit from supplemental studies including MRI. These are usually patients of high risk (>20-25% lifetime).
• Detailed breast imaging history and a specific date the exam is needed or if the imaging is urgent is helpful to include on the requisition.

Breast Density Volpara Scores

• A – Almost entirely fatty: There is almost no dense tissue, which makes abnormalities easy to detect. About 10% of women are in this category.
• B – Scattered fibroglandular densities: Scattered areas of density, but most tissue is fatty. About 40% of women are in this category.
• C – Heterogeneously dense: More than half the breast is dense tissue. About 40% of women are in this category.
• D – Extremely dense: Nearly all the tissue is dense. About 10% of women are in this category. This may make it hard to see a cancer on a mammogram because the cancer can blend in with the normal tissue.