Located on the third floor of the Hospital is an area encompassing more than 6,000 square feet, Shaare Zedek’s new, one-stop multidisciplinary and comprehensive Diagnostic Breast Health Center which combines mammography with an integrated, holistic approach incorporating ultrasound and MRI imaging. The new Diagnostic Breast Health Center will complement the services of the Breast Health Clinic, currently under development, which will be responsible for the continued medical care of patients.

The new Center is also working in concert with other relevant departments within the Hospital. The Diagnostic Breast Health Center is collaborating with The Fuld Department of Medical Genetics at Shaare Zedek to identify and treat women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which are associated with breast and ovarian cancer, as well as Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, Shaare Zedek has a Noga Clinic for healthy carriers of defective BRCA genes. It is the only clinic of its kind in the country. “Noga” in Hebrew means “radiance” and is also the acronym for Women at High Risk.

Breast cancer is widespread in Israel. While many women can be successfully screened with mammography, others who have a family history of cancer, dense breast tissue or other factors that define them as “high risk” need an ultrasound which can find things that a mammogram can’t. MRIs are also being used for breast cancer diagnosis. The new Center utilizes all of these to screen for, and type cancers.