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What's New

We've Moved

The Center for Breast Health —the first totally comprehensive breast health center in the Washington, DC metropolitan area —has moved it's offices to Virginia Hospital Center.
Unlike other programs, the Center for Breast Health offers patients all the medical, surgical and ancillary services they need in one location. With everything under one roof and a staff dedicated solely to breast health, the Center gives patients access to the best in multidisciplinary healthcare without having to travel to multiple locations or experiencing treatment delays.

Medical Director Stephanie R. Akbari, MD, FACS is joined by Molly L. Sebastian, MD. Together, these dedicated breast surgeons provide the medical expertise that ensures patients have the highest quality care, all in one place, in their efforts to stay breast healthy.

The Center for Breast Health is dedicated to educating our community about new technology and treatment advances for women with breast disease. Periodically, we will highlight one or more of these newer diagnostic and treatment options, so that you can make the most informed and best decision for your breast care.

Who Needs Digital Mammography?

The results of the DMIST trial published in October 2005 showed that digital mammography was no better or worse in diagnostic accuracy than regular film screen mammography in the general population for breast cancer screening. This was a study that enrolled approximately 49,500 women and compared film screen mammography to digital mammography to see if one technology was superior to the other.There was a subset of patients, however, in whom digital mammography was superior to film screen. Patients under 50, patients who had extremely dense breast tissue, and premenopausal/ perimenopausal women clearly significantly benefited from digital mammography compared with film screen mammography. Digital mammography is more expensive than film screen, and it is not widely available at this time. If you fall into one of the above categories, digital mammography is a better choice for breast cancer screening. If you are not in one of the three subsets listed above, there is no difference in cancer detection rates between the two technologies, and you need not seek out digital imaging.