Month: April 2019

You’ve heard about the importance of getting regular mammograms. But like a lot of things in life that we’re supposed to do (flossing every day? Please…) sometimes we need a little reminder.

Here’s why mammograms are so important, and why you should schedule your next annual mammogram today:

Early Detection Gives You More Treatment Options

A cancer detected very early gives physicians a wider range of treatment options. In fact, early detection greatly reduces the possibility of a patient’s need for mastectomy and makes it more likely that a cancer can be removed with a simple targeted surgery.

Annual Screenings Enhance Your Results

Just as a fine wine gets better with age, so does the personal data produced by regular mammograms. As you get mammograms year after year, your provider gains more imaging records of your “normal” breast tissue, making any future irregularities even easier to detect and identify. If you have a family history of breast cancer or have dense breast tissue, your doctor may recommend a 3D mammogram for more detailed imaging.

Once you’ve reached age 40, doctors recommend that you receive a mammogram every year. At Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago, you’ll receive immediate mammogram results before you leave your appointment—so you’ll never have to walk away wondering or worrying about the outcome.

Ready to schedule your mammogram? Reserve an appointment in our Gold Coast office.

A Harvard Medical study recently calculated that 20-40% of cancer cases and deaths could be prevented, yet many women still put others’ health, including pets, above their own. Luckily, a weeklong National Women’s Health Week observance was created. It’s all about empowering women to make their health a priority. Mother’s Day marks the kickoff of National Women’s Health Week, running until May 20th.

Join us to celebrate the health of women of all ages, and put your health first this year, so you can be even more equipped to help others:

Schedule the Check Up You Put Off

May 8th marks National Women’s Check-Up Day, so whether you have been putting off your yearly physical, annual exam or other health screening, call your doctor today.

Know Your Family Cancer History

If your family has a history of hereditary cancer (breast, endometrial, prostate, melanoma, pancreatic, colorectal, gastric or ovarian) make sure you know your potential risk. By doing this, you will increase your chances of preventing life threatening cancer and get ahead of any uncertainty.

Go Outside

The outdoors has a dual use when it comes to your health. Mentally, the outdoors helps clear the mind, increases focus and decreases stress throughout the day. Physically, going outside also has many health benefits. People tend to have more energy and boost the immune system with the extra Vitamin D from the sun.

Be Healthy

As much as we try, eating healthy and staying active can be hard to achieve during the busy parts of your day, but they can help prevent both cancer and osteoporosis. Healthy eating and staying active also have similar mood and productivity boosting capabilities as the outdoors. Don’t stay too far from chocolate and wine, both have proven health benefits in small, moderated quantities.

Share the knowledge!

In the words of Mark Zuckerberg, ‘People influence people’. Tell other woman in your life to put their health first, and take the first step today.

To learn more, make sure to follow the #NWHW. Want to take the first step and book your mammogram or hereditary cancer screening? Call our office to book your appointment today: 312-867-9000.

Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago receive ‘People Love Us On Yelp’ Award.

Thanks to all of your incredibly generous reviews, Diagnostic Imaging has received the coveted ‘People Love Us On Yelp’ award from Yelp, Inc.

‘People Love Us on Yelp’ is a program that provides a sticker and letter of commendation from Yelp’s founders to businesses that qualify. Whether or not a business advertises on Yelp has no impact on their eligibility to receive a ‘People Love Us on Yelp’ sticker. These stickers must be earned by the company.

‘I am so grateful to our team for all of their hard work, and to my patients for their honest and kind reviews,” Dr. Farag said. ‘Without them, this practice would not be noticed for the experienced and caring environment that it really is’.

View our ‘People Love Us on Yelp’ sticker on our door during your next appointment.

Learn why mammogram screenings should be done annually.

It’s difficult to know what guidelines to follow when there is an abundance of competing information regarding mammograms, specifically on how often and at what age women should start getting them. Some organizations, like the U.S. Preventative Services Task force (a government agency), recommends that ‘women should get a mammogram every other year’ [2]. This advice and suggestion has been demonstrated to result in significant numbers of delayed diagnoses of breast cancer, which results in poor clinical outcomes for patients.

However, the medical community, including the American Congress of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the American College of Surgeons, and the American College of Radiology, the world’s most well-respected doctors, and we at Diagnostic Imaging Specialists; still advocate for yearly mammograms. One of the most well-regarded authorities on this topic in the medical community is Dr. Daniel Kopans, an award winning physician, Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Senior Radiologist in the Breast Imaging Division at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Through his research, Dr. Kopans has found:

• Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Networking (CISNET) shows that most lives are saved by annual mammography beginning at the age of 40 [1] as opposed to biennially.
• If women are screened annually, the size of cancers and the stage at which they are found is lower than if cancers are given a longer time to grow [1].
• Since the start of screenings in 1980, there are 35% fewer women dying of breast cancer each year than there would be if screening had not been introduced [1].

Kopans, D. (2015, May 7). Dr. Daniel Kopans: Topol ignores facts on mammography. Retrieved from: http://www.auntminnie.com/index.aspx?sec=ser&sub=def&pag=dis&ItemID=110913

U.S. Preventive Services. (2016, February). Final update summary: Breast cancer. Retrieved from: http://www,uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/UpdateSummaryFinal/breast-cancer-screening1?ds=1&s=breast%cancer%screening

Published on September 14, 2015 in the Chicago Health News Examiner

Gold Coast-based Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago is an independent comprehensive imaging center for women catering to their emotional, physical, and diagnostic screening needs. They are currently the only imaging center to offer the Myriad myRisk™ Hereditary Test. The genetic cancer test recognizes carriers of genetic mutations that may result in eight different types of cancer. Some of these types include breast, gastric and ovarian cancers. It is a quick and simple blood test, where a single blood draw is sent to Myriad Genetic Laboratories for analysis.

The Hereditary Cancer Panel is a 25-gene panel with the ability to capture more mutation carriers than other tests combined. Dr. Ahmed Farag, M.D., C.M., FRCPC and Founder of Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago talked to Brandi Walker about the qualifications a patient must meet to take this test, whether a patient could still get tested without personal or family cancer history, and how effective has this test been in reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.

What qualifications must a patient meet to be a candidate for the Hereditary Cancer Test?

We use the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)’s guidelines for testing. Their criteria includes an individual with a cancer diagnosis meeting any of the following:

• A known mutation in a cancer susceptibility gene within the family
• Early-age-onset breast cancer
• Triple negative (ER-, PR-, HER2-) breast cancer ≤60 y
• Two breast cancer primaries in a single individual
• Breast cancer at any age, and
  ≥1 close blood relative with breast cancer ≤50 y, or
  ≥1 close blood relative with invasive ovarian cancer at any age, or
  ≥2 close blood relatives with breast cancer and/or pancreatic cancer at any age,
  or
  From a population at increased risk
• Personal and/or family history of three or more of the following (especially if early onset): pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer (Gleason score ≥7); sarcoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, brain tumors, endometrial cancer; thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, dermatologic manifestations and/or macrocephaly, hamartomatous polyps of gastrointestinal (GI) tract; diffuse gastric cancer (can include multiple primary cancer in same individual)
• Invasive ovarian
• Male breast cancer

For an individual with no personal history of cancer but with a family history of any of the following:

• A known mutation in a cancer susceptibility gene within the family
• ≥2 breast cancer primaries in a single individual
• ≥2 individuals with breast cancer primaries on the same side of family
• ≥1 invasive ovarian cancer primary
• First- or second-degree relative with breast cancer ≤45 y
• Personal and/or family history of three or more of the following (especially if early onset): pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer (Gleason score ≥7), sarcoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, brain tumors, endometrial cancer; thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, dermatologic manifestations and/or macrocephaly, hamartomatous polyps of GI tract; diffuse gastric cancer (can include multiple primary cancers in same individual)
• Male breast cancer

Could the patient still get tested if they don’t have a personal or family cancer history?:
The myRisk™ Hereditary Cancer Panel can be administered to anyone—male or female—regardless of personal or family history. However, insurance will only cover patients who meet the aforementioned NCCN criteria for genetic testing. Those whom do not meet the criteria will have to pay out of pocket for the testing.

Tell me more about this Risk Assessment Form:
The Risk Assessment Form is essentially our Cancer Family History Questionnaire. This questionnaire allows you to fill out information regarding cancer type & diagnosis of close family members. By reviewing this form, we are able to give recommendations for patient testing based on your personal or family history. This questionnaire does NOT suggest or imply that the patient in fact has cancer or a genetic mutation.

How effective has this test been in helping women reduce their risk of breast and ovarian cancers?:
By knowing their risk, a patient can choose to take action and possibly reduce their risk by over 90%. Taking action can mean anything from undergoing surgery to increasing surveillance and more. Seeing a genetic mutation for ovarian cancer is especially beneficial because ovarian cancer is almost always discovered too late, making the chance of long term survival small. Choosing to have a prophylactic surgery between the ages of 35-40 years old can be life saving. Studies have shown that knowing these genetic risks and catching them before it becomes critical can add 20 years to a woman’s life.

How effective has this test been in helping men reduce their risk of prostate and pancreatic cancers?:
While our office is primarily focused on breast and ovarian cancer histories in order to move forward with testing, it is certainly open for men as well. Because men with family histories of breast cancer are equally able to transmit the genetic defect to their children, we have had men take the myRisk™ Hereditary Cancer Panel in interest of their daughters.

Learn more about our Hereditary Cancer Testing and schedule an appointment today.

Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago, an independent imaging center in the Gold Coast of Chicago, is now offering the Myriad myRisk™ Hereditary Test to recognize carriers of genetic mutations that may result in eight different types of cancer. Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago is a comprehensive imaging center for women catering to their emotional, physical and diagnostic screening needs. The most recent addition to their services is the Myriad myRisk™ genetic cancer test. Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago is the only independent imaging center in the area offering this service to patients. One of the benefits being that Diagnostic Imaging Specialists is also able to provide this service same-day to patients, which helps reduce anxieties leading up to the appointment.

“We are very excited to offer this service conveniently to the women of Chicago,” says Ahmed Farag, M.D., C.M., FRCPC and Founder of Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago. “The mission of Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago is to empower our patients with information related to their health, and to guide patients through all their options. The Myriad myRisk™ test fits nicely with our mission and services by further empowering our patients with results that can help them take additional precautions for their condition.”

The Hereditary Cancer Panel is a 25-gene panel with the ability to capture more mutation carriers than other tests combined. The test has the ability to identify risks for breast, endometrial, prostate, melanoma, pancreatic, colorectal, gastric and ovarian cancers. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommends that the patient should get tested based on personal and family cancer history. Patients interested in the test may contact the doctors at Diagnostic Imaging Specialists, where they can help the patient to determine whether or not the patient is an ideal candidate for the test.

Armed with the knowledge of knowing whether or not a patient is a carrier of a genetic mutation is important because of the high-risk associated with those gene carriers. This test has the ability to catch and notify women before they have the associated cancers so that they may take necessary precautions based on the findings.

“This test is going to be a huge benefit for patients looking for answers,” says Dr. Farag. “Before the test is performed, we ask each patient to fill out our Risk Assessment Form. This will give us a better idea of what type of cancers the patient is more susceptible to in the future.”

The test is a simple blood test, where a single blood draw is sent to Myriad Genetic Laboratories for analysis. The test itself takes approximately 3-5 minutes, with results being delivered in approximately 3 weeks. The patient can expect 1 of 3 test results: Positive, Negative or Variant. All results are reviewed individually with each patient, and physicians are ready and able to answer your questions per your result in order to provide you the information you need.

About Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago

Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago is an independent diagnostic imaging center in the Chicago Gold Coast. Diagnostic Imaging is a small practice consisting of two Board Certified Radiologists specializing in digital mammograms, diagnostic ultrasounds and biopsies, and bone density testing. Diagnostic Imaging takes pride in its ability to quickly deliver test results, eliminate patient uncertainties, provide transparent communication, and maintain a tranquil spa setting that ensures patient comfort above all else.

About MyRaid MyRisk Test

For more information on Myriad myRisk testing, please visit https://discmammo.com/services/hereditary-cancer-testing/

To schedule an appointment with Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago, please visit: https://discmammo.com/schedule-appointment/ or call 312.867.9000.

Chicago, IL (June 12, 2017) – After much anticipation, Diagnostic Imaging Specialists of Chicago, an independent imaging center in the Gold Coast of Chicago, has unveiled their new, state-of-the-art website.

Since establishing the practice in 2009, the Diagnostic Imaging Specialists website has remained consistent with their look, feel and functionality. As technology advances and patients continue to find and view the practice online, owner and lead radiologist, Dr. Ahmed Farag was excited tostay ahead of the curve and create a more modern experience for his website visitors.

“We are committed to our patient care, comfort and experience –in and outside of our office. We think it’s critical to have an online presence that mimics the experience we try to deliver in the office: with open communication and explanation of what the patient can expect to further put their mind at ease when they come into the office,” said Farag. ‘‘We also want to make it simple and convenient for patients to reach out and get the answers they need, and get in touch – which is why we’re making it simpler to schedule an appointment and contact the office.”

As more people are finding doctor’s offices on a mobile devices, we wanted to create a better experience for not only desktop users, but for mobile as well. Embracing a similar look and feel of the previous website, the new website provides a cleaner, more aesthetic responsive layout and design that mimics comfort and the feeling that we want patients to get when walking into the office. Other important features including a transparent navigation and a blog that will be updated to provide patient with news and resources to further educate on their bodies and health.

“As the industry and technology changes, it is imperative to create the most optimal experience for customers at every touchpoint,” said Farag. “We wanted the detailed and thorough experience that is delivered to patients at our practice – to reflect onto our website as well.”