FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- In efforts to catch breast cancer earlier, a new mammogram machine called 3D Genius is being used at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith.
Mercy has invested $1.1 million in new equipment, reading stations for radiologists, software, and other expenses to add to the new mammography program.
"It's a 3-D image like looking at a book," Mercy Hospital mammographer Mia Smith said. "Instead of looking at a book cover to cover, you actually get to open the book and look at it like pages of a book."
The new machine has been proven to detect 41 percent more invasive breast cancers, as well as decrease false-positive results.
"It's less anxiety for the patient as far as being called back for something that could be a false-positive," Smith said. "That's now less likely to happen."
With the 3-D machine, radiologists are given photo splices which allows them to take a deeper look.
"[Radiologists] can actually scroll through the slices of the breast anatomy and more accurately see what pathology and what structures they're looking at instead of looking at a 2-D image, they're scrolling through and getting much more detail," Smith said.
The mammogram will take about ten seconds, and there won't be much difference for patients between the 2-D and 3-D scans.
"It's the same positioning, we still apply compression," Smith said. "The difference that the patient will notice is while they're in compression, instead of just taking one image, the scanner will scan across the top of the patient. That's what will give those sliced images for the radiologists to read."
Smith said the radiation exposure for patients with the new machine will be the same or less than the conventional 2-D machine.
Breast Cancer survivor, Mary Johnson said without her yearly mammograms, she may not be here today.
"[My doctor] could compare them, and he said that's probably what saved my life was that mammogram," Johnson said.
Johnson said the new technology gives hope for prevention and diagnosis of breast cancer.
"As a Breast Cancer survivor, I want to know is there anything left," Johnson said. "With this new technology, they can see if there is anything left."
So far, Mercy Hospital has scanned 90 patients with the new machine in 2-D. The hospital plans to use the 3-D system at the end of August. Three 3-D machines will eventually be used for all mammograms.
Cooper Clinic in Fort Smith also plans to use the 3-D Genius Mammography Machine later this month.