Clark Regional Medical Center recently earned an accreditation for its new mammography biopsy imaging unit.

The accreditation was from the American College of Radiology for the hospital’s 3-D stereotactic breast biopsy services.

CRMC outpatient imaging supervisor Tamila Humphries said the hospital started using the new equipment in December and spent the next six months pursuing the voluntary accreditation.

The new equipment, she said, allows the biopsy images to be taken while the patient is sitting up, rather than lying on a table. It requires fewer images to be taken, which reduces the amount of radiation exposure to the patient as well as time for the process.

“The patients we’ve done both on say this is much easier,” Humphries said. “It also enables us to use our 3-D technology so we can do biopsies in less time. We used to take six to eight images. Now we can do it in three.”

It also shortened the process by about an hour, she said, to 45 minutes or so.

To earn the accreditation as a unit, Humphries said they had to submit several images taken by the staff for review. Though the accreditation for the equipment is required, the unit’s accreditation is completely voluntary, she said. It must be renewed every three years.

“The accreditation says we have met the highest standards to perform the biopsies,” Humphries said. “We can assure our patients obtaining the highest standards of care.”