There's a lot that might come to mind if you picture a relaxing, spa-like experience, and "mammogram" probably isn't on the list.
The preventative procedure can be uncomfortable, even painful -- and you usually have to hold your breath while one of the most sensitive parts of your body is smushed in a machine that takes images.
"The anxiety was getting to me, and the fear," said patient Stephanie Batistas.
VHC Health, a Northern Virginia Hospital, wants to change all that. Think warm robes, mood lighting and new technology that allows you to control the pressure during a mammogram.
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They hope the changes will make women less hesitant to get their regular check-ups.
"I would go every few years because I would dread it so much," Batistas said. "But with COVID, I hadn't been here in four years."
The new technology aims to make the experience a lot more comfortable.
"We wanted this spa-like feel," said Dr. Sarah Mezban. "Not going for a mammogram, sitting in a room and you're worried about the outcome of your mammogram. We wanted the patient to have a relaxed experience."
Patients are given heated robes when they visit VHC Health, and mood lighting emits from the new Siemens mammography machine.
"As a patient, you want your mind to go somewhere else," Mezban said. "And I think the calming lights that you see with the machine is very nice feature."
She calls the machines a game changer. They're equipped with a wider angle that creates more detailed 3D images.
They also use AI technology.
"The artificial intelligence [is] basically a machine that was fed a lot of the mammograms with the accurate findings in them. And [they] learn to pick up the morphology or the shape, so it will pick up anything that is round, anything that is a star shape, or if there are any calcifications," Mezban explained. "It will highlight those at the end of the exam, and it will draw attention to kind of look back and compare."
Studies show routine mammograms save lives, reducing breast cancer deaths in the U.S. by nearly 40% since 1990.
With the new machines VHC Health is using, patients no longer need to hold their breath, and can even control the amount of compression on their own, adjusting it to their comfort level.
"I thought I would be a lot more nervous than I really was," Batistas said. "I wasn't nervous at all. The light was changing. The tech was wonderful."
"I'm not putting it off anymore," Batistas said. "I'm coming every year."
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that women get regular mammograms starting at age 40. Those with high risk or a family history of breast cancer may need to be screened sooner, and should have a conversation with their doctor.
