In traditional mobile mammography, a large truck equipped with mammography machines travels to rural sites, and the mammograms are printed and read days later when the truck returns to a hospital or imaging center. Radiologists at the University of Michigan decided to improve on this method.

“Mobile mammography is a critical way for Native American women to get a mammogram,” explains Dr. Marilyn Roubidoux, professor of radiology at the University of Michigan Medical School and a member of  'the Spirit of Eagles,' a leadership network that promotes cancer control research among Native Americans. “But what happens when a woman needs to be called back for more images?”

The Indian Health Service mammography van

The radiologists found that by using digital mammography instead of films and adding satellite capability, they were able to beam the digital mammograms back to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to be read.

In the pilot program whose results Roubidoux presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America,  a mobile mammography unit owned by the Indian Health Service visited seven American Indian reservations in North Dakota and South Dakota and performed 515 digital mammograms between March and July of this year. The digital images were transmitted via satellite to radiologists in the Breast Imaging Division of the University of Michigan Radiology Department. The average time between sending the films and obtaining a report for these women was 50 minutes. In ideal technological and weather conditions, it was as fast as 30 minutes.

Of the 58 women who needed additional images, 72 percent were able to get those tests done immediately, or returned within three days for more imaging.

Radiologists found the mammogram images transmitted via satellite were of excellent quality, on a par with the digital mammograms they read daily in the clinic.

Only about 10 percent of Native American women over age 40 get a yearly mammogram. In many cases, women live on rural reservations where they must drive as far as 100 miles to have a mammogram. After the test, it can take up to a week before a woman receives the results. If additional tests are needed, it is often difficult to arrange for that followup.

"What I used to have to do is drive about 90 to 100 miles to get a mammogram done," said one Native American woman who participated in the mobile mammography. "It was real convenient to have that unit come directly to our home town. There are a lot of women in our town who need to have the mammograms done that usually don't come."

The Indian Health Service plans to implement this service again in 2007, with collaboration from the University of Michigan.