The Women's Imaging Center in Southbury

07/04/2025

The Women’s Imaging Center and all DRA offices will be closed Friday, July 4th for the holiday. We hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!

06/19/2025

Dr. Allen has been a part of the Waterbury community and DRA since joining us in 1988 until his retirement on June 17, 2025.
His exceptional skill, incredible patience, and calm nature will be missed by the entire staff at DRA.
We are all sad to see Dr. Allen step away from all of us here at DRA, but we wish him all the best in the next chapter of his life.

05/16/2025

Don’t forget! May is Osteoporosis Awareness Month!

05/11/2025

05/02/2025

May is Osteoporosis Awareness Month!

04/17/2025

The Women’s Imaging Center & all DRA offices will be closed Friday, April 18th for the holiday weekend.

03/14/2025

02/26/2025

If you have dense breasts, here’s a new important Canadian study you and your healthcare provider need to see.

There’s no doubt—ultrasound is a game-changer for women with dense breasts, finding additional cancers that mammograms miss. No one should ever be told that additional screening is not needed.

In Vancouver, 5,200 women with dense breasts who had a NORMAL mammogram chose to have an ultrasound. Smart decision to pursue additional screening because 32 women had breast cancers found. Most were early invasive cancers that hadn’t yet spread to the lymph nodes. That translates to 6.1 cancers per 1,000 women—DOUBLE what was previously estimated for ultrasound. Previous studies done in the US with ultrasound found 2-3 additional cancers per 1000 women but they have different screening protocols in the USA and so its great to have this Canadian research.

While MRI is even more sensitive for detecting cancer in dense breasts, finding 12-16 cancers per 1000 women, it’s costly and not widely available. It’s sometimes offered to women with Category D breast density (Ontario) and it is offered to those at high lifetime risk.

WHY THIS STUDY MATTERS

✅ 84% of cancers detected were in women with Category C density. Category C density cannot be ignored.
✅ 62% of the women with breast cancer had no personal or family history of breast cancer
✅ Additional screening with ultrasound finds cancers missed by mammography—when they’re still small and before they spread.

Detecting cancers earlier not only save lives but also improves quality of life by reducing the need for aggressive surgeries and chemotherapy.

“We have the technology to detect breast cancer earlier and improve outcomes for women with dense breasts. What we need now is policy change to ensure that all Canadian women—no matter where they live—have access to the screening tools they need. Every woman deserves an equal opportunity for early detection.”
Dr. Paula Gordon, Lead author, Clinical Professor of Radiology, UBC Faculty of Medicine

A HUGE THANK YOU TO THE RESEARCHERS

A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Paula Gordon, Dr. Jean Seely and Dr Linda Warren for their dedication to this research. They see every day the impact of cancers found too late—and they work tirelessly to give all women the best chance at early detection.

NOW, WE NEED POLICY TO CATCH UP WITH SCIENCE

It’s time to ensure that all women with dense breasts have access to life-saving screening—no matter where they live. In BC, NWT, AB, and ON, access is more readily available, but that’s not enough.

TAKE ACTION

Please check out our advocacy letter in the footer of our website to help advocate for improved access to additional screening in your province. Join our advocates in your province and help make a difference.

The study can be read here https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08465371251318578

02/25/2025

https://www.auntminnie.com/clinical-news/womens-imaging/article/15738040/one-in-20-women-around-the-world-diagnosed-with-breast-cancer?utm_campagin=2025-02-25&utm_source=AuntMinnie-Letter+From+The+Editor&braze_int_id=64e760ec9105cb00013b9cde&braze_ext_id=643031fa19ef38833c4fcd1d&utm_medium=email

About one in 20 women globally are diagnosed with breast cancer and women living in low- to middle-income countries are at higher risk.

11/20/2024

Check out the info on the PBS Special on breast density!

The role of mammography, and the need for secondary screening for women with dense tissue.