New mammography machines are being installed at hospitals in Yellowknife and Inuvik.
The NWT’s health authority said mammography services were expected to close in Yellowknife from February 7 to March 8, and in Inuvik from March 4 to April 5, while the new equipment is installed.
The new machines will offer advanced “3D mammography,” allowing staff to better visualize breast tissue and reconstruct it in 3D for radiologists to review alongside other images, the health authority stated.
More: Breast cancer screening in the NWT
NWT guidelines and protocols for that kind of mammography need to be introduced before it can be used, and the authority said those are under review.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
During the months when service is interrupted, you can expect a delay in screening appointments. Diagnostic services “will be referred to and coordinated in Alberta,” the health authority stated.
While the Inuvik machine is being paid for by the NWT’s health authority, the Yellowknife machine is funded through the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation and CIBC Run for Our Lives initiatives.
In the past, groups fundraising for the new machines have called them the “gold standard for breast imaging internationally.” Each machine is said to cost more than half a million dollars.
