Protect your health with breast imaging tests that can detect cancer early – when it’s easiest to treat – or give you peace of mind. Visit a Ballad Health location near you throughout East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. You’ll find offices with convenient evening and weekend hours and spa-like surroundings that help you feel comfortable.

Breast health services & treatments

Through Ballad Health, you have access to a wide range of breast health tests. Your health care provider might recommend you get a:

• Mammogram – Sends low-dose X-rays into the breast to look for changes in tissue, often before you feel a lump or other symptoms of breast cancer
• Breast MRI – Uses a magnetic field to show parts of the breast that a mammogram can’t show
• Breast ultrasound – Uses sound waves to create a picture of the inside of the breast and quickly check if a lump is harmless
• Breast-specific gamma imaging – Looks at what certain breast cells are doing and sometimes follows a mammogram
• Breast biopsy – Removes a tiny sample of breast tissue for testing in a lab

Learn about genetic testing that can show whether you were born with a higher risk of breast cancer. You’ll find this service at Ballad Health Women’s Health and Imaging Center.

3D mammograms

To stay as well as possible long-term, get mammograms yearly after the age of 40 unless instructed otherwise by your doctor. When you make an appointment for a screening, you can ask if 3D mammography is the best option for you. 3D mammography (breast tomosynthesis), which gives an even better, clearer picture of your breasts than a traditional mammogram. You might benefit from this technology, especially if a past mammogram showed you have dense breasts.

Fast, accurate results

You get faster test results because Ballad Health locations use digital mammography instead of film. Medical staff can make the digital images, unlike film pictures, lighter or darker to better spot unusual areas of tissue. And computer software can help your doctor more easily find a tiny breast lump in an image.

High-quality care

Feel secure knowing your mammogram takes place at a Ballad Health location that’s accredited in mammography by the American College of Radiology. Our accreditation means you can trust highly trained staff to perform your test the right way and use up-to-date equipment to get correct results.

Free mammograms for low-income women

You might qualify for a free mammogram if you meet all these criteria:

• Don’t have enough insurance
• Earn less than a certain income
• Live in Sullivan, Washington, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi, Hancock or Greene county in Tennessee or Scott County, Virginia

Call your local health department to make an appointment or get more information. Local health departments partner with Ballad Health and the East Tennessee affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure to provide free screenings through Project Access to Breast Care (Project ABC).

Breast Imaging Centers of Excellence

You can trust our skilled staff to follow high standards of care, guide you through the testing process and help make sure you get correct results.

The following facilities are designated as Breast Imaging Centers of Excellence by the American College of Radiology (ACR):

• Bristol – The Leonard Family Comprehensive Breast Center and Volunteer Parkway Imaging Center
• Johnson City – The Women’s Health and Imaging Center
• Kingsport – Comprehensive Breast Center and Indian Path Community Hospital in Kingsport

Being Breast Imaging Centers of Excellence means these locations are ACR-accredited in mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI and stereotactic breast biopsy (a biopsy guided by a mammogram).

It also means you have access to:

• A skilled, caring team with many types of medical experts
• Complete, well-rounded services
• Breast cancer education, support and prevention programs