Tacoma General Hospital

PRESS RELEASE
DATE: Monday, August 03, 2009
Contact: Jennifer Aalgaard
Phone: 253.219.1715
Email: jennifer.aalgaard@multicare.org

MultiCare Breast Health Services Announces its
Fourth Straight Year of Perfect Inspections

PIERCE & SOUTH KING COUNTY, WA- MultiCare’s Breast Health services is pleased to announce that all three mammography sites (Gig Harbor, Auburn and Covington) passed their annual MQSA (Mammography Quality Standards Act)/FDA inspections with no deficiencies. This is the fourth year in a row for this achievement.

The standards of MQSA require establishment and maintenance of a quality assurance and quality control programs at each facility to ensure the reliability, clarity, and accuracy of interpretation of mammograms and standards for appropriate radiation dose.

Each site is responsible for the daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annual and annual quality control tests and is annually inspected by the FDA and a Medical Physicist.

The U.S. Congress enacted MQSA in 1992 to ensure that all women have access to quality mammography for the detection of breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages.

For more information on MQSA, visit http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/MammographyQualityStandardsActandProgram/default.htm

MORE ABOUT MULTICARE BREAST HEALTH PROGRAMS:

MultiCare is the first health system in the South Puget Sound region to offer image-guided, stereotactic linear accelerator treatment, on the Varian® Trilogy System, for treating cancers and other appropriate conditions. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a form of radiation therapy that uses 3-D computer imaging to attack tumors and lesions with an extremely precise dose of radiation. Linear accelerators offer potential advantages to some patients over other stereotactic radiosurgery technologies such as the Gamma Knife, notably the ability to treat tumors throughout the entire body, not just those in the brain.

These treatments include MammoSite RTS, SAVI (a Five-Day Radiation treatment), Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy and the Rapid Arc Radiotherapy Technology.

For more information on these treatment options, visit multicare.org and click on the Cancer tab.