Breast Imaging Facts

WRA has 26 board certified physicians practicing diagnostic imaging at six outpatient offices located in the District of Columbia, Montgomery County, Fairfax County and Loudoun County.

Computer-aided detection (CAD), shown to increase the cancer detection rate when used in conjunction with digital mammography, is employed for all mammograms at WRA. Patient image and data files are viewed, stored and retrieved through a secure Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS).

WRA participated in the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST) funded by the National Cancer Institute. The trial included researchers at 33 sites across the United States and Canada and compared the accuracy of breast cancer detection with conventional film-based mammography versus digital mammography. Director of Mammography, Julianne S. Greenberg, MD, was the principal investigator for the trial at WRA.

WRA provides complete breast cancer diagnostic services at no charge to low-income uninsured women who are referred from more than a dozen non-profit community clinics across the Washington, DC metropolitan area. In addition, WRA contributes monetary support and diagnostic services to the Breast Cancer Care Foundation, a non-profit organization that facilitates access to breast health care and breast cancer treatment for area women who are underserved, uninsured and cannot afford to pay for these services.

WRA technologists are certified in their designated imaging modality e.g., mammography, ultrasound, MRI, and are registered with the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.

In 1988, WRA mammography facilities were among the first in the Washington metropolitan area to receive mammography accreditation by the American College of Radiology (ACR). All WRA mammography offices are certified by the Food and Drug Administration under the Mammography Quality Standards Act.