The Oak Ridge Breast Center received a perfect FDA score during a recent evaluation. This is the 20th year in a row that the Breast Center received a perfect score. (Photo by Covenant Health)
Once again, Oak Ridge Breast Center has earned a perfect score as the result of an annual inspection by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA. It marks the 20th consecutive year the center has achieved a perfect score and follows its elite designation as a Breast Center of Excellence, a press release said.
FDA inspections are an important component in enforcement of the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992, according to breast center manager Shari Blattner. The law was passed in response to concerns that mammography didn’t meet uniformly high standards throughout the United States.
Breast cancer centers must meet stringent guidelines. Standards cover quality assurance and quality control; radiology equipment; qualifications of technicians, physicians, and medical physicists; and medical record keeping. Inspections and certifications check everything from the mammography facility to the films for final images and the image quality.
“The FDA found that Oak Ridge Breast Center is in complete compliance with national mammography quality standards, and it had no recommendations for improvements,” Blattner said.
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States, and one woman in every eight will develop breast cancer during her lifetime. Current American College of Radiology Guidelines recommend screening mammograms every year beginning at age 40 for women at average risk for breast cancer.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also recommend annual clinical breast exams.
Widespread screening of women over 50, followed by prompt treatment when needed, can reduce breast cancer deaths, the press release said. Death rates from breast cancer have been going down since 1989. This is thought to be due to better treatment and better ways to find it early, when it’s small and easier to treat.
“Women should to do monthly self breast exams and have a breast physical exam from their family doctor or gynecologist once a year, along with the mammograms,” Blattner said in the release.
The Oak Ridge Breast Center is designated as a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology’s Commission on Quality and Safety and the Commission on Breast Imaging. They are one of an elite group of centers in Tennessee to have received this distinction, the release said.
Located in the Cheyenne Ambulatory Center at 944 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge Breast Center has been serving the community since 1984. It is the only mammography provider in the Oak Ridge area that offers a complete range of breast health services, bone density screenings, and the very latest technology. For more information, call (865) 835-3760.
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