The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL kvirgil@tribunemedia.net PRINCESS Margaret Hospital officials are appealing to corporate Bahamas and the public to make donations to a new digital mammography machine that will replace the near obsolete equipment they are using. So far, the hospital along with other organisations have raised more than $100,000 toward the new equipment that will include a new monitor, software and storage space for digital images. More than 12 years old, the current mammography machine is not only less cost efficient, but has also at times, created a backlog of patients. According to Dr Solange Payne, director of radiology, the hospital has seen six weeks upward to four months of back log with routine patients. However, anyone with lumps, discharge or urgent circumstances is seen immediately. Dr Payne explained that PMH's equipment has seen a great amount of traffic as it is the only government owned machine with consistent manpower. She said: "There is another mammography machine at the RAND Memorial Hospital to do screening for Grand Bahama, however there has been a lack of radiologists. "Really and truly to tackle all the screening, we need to have more mammography machines and that is something that really should be done so it reaches everybody." The new digital machine, however, will allow images to be instantaneously seen on a computer screen, stored into a data base, and retrieved as needed. Dr Payne explained the machine's age has presented a many challenges for the department. "As a result," she said, "we have down time due to machine failure, and equipment failure or the need to replace parts, the machine is now to the point where they don't even make the parts anymore. "Yes, we could continue to fix it, but the rate at which we could continue, it just becomes less cost-effective." As breast cancer is prevalent in the Bahamas, Dr Payne said a new digital machine will boost radiology's sub-par equipment capabilities. "During the past 10 years, the development of digital imaging and the whole use of computers and the use of the Internet, along with the type of equipment that now is available has totally changed," she said. "The common man doesn't have pictures , everybody has digital. Why is it that the hospital is still limping along with the film?" Dr Payne said the number of patients seen every day could be doubled with the digital machine. The new equipment will also use 30 per cent less radiation. Mammography is the only recognized way of screening for breast cancer. It has been proven and documented that screening mammography, decreases mortality and the morbidity associated with breast cancer.