The University of Tennessee Medical Center Cancer Institute Purchases New Mobile Mammography Unit

The University of Tennessee Medical Center Cancer Institute has a new mobile mammography unit (MMU) to provide convenient screening mammograms to women throughout the region. The mobile unit operates six days a week throughout the year offering screening services to both insured and uninsured women.

The new mobile unit replaced one purchased in 2004 and is the third mobile mammography unit since the medical center began offering mobile mammography services in 1989.

The medical center launched the Breast Health Outreach Program (BHOP) in 1996 as part of the mobile mammography service. This health outreach program delivers mammogram screenings and education to women throughout 21 counties in East Tennessee.

Approximately 3,700 women are screened yearly on the mobile which travels approximately 27,000 miles per year.

“The program was created to provide education and mammography services to women that are otherwise underserved, hoping to find breast cancers early and save lives. Our mobile mammography unit goes out into the community where people work, worship and live to remove barriers that might keep women from being screened.” says John L. Bell, MD, director of the Cancer Institute at UT Medical Center. “This new mobile mammography unit was made possible through several philanthropic gifts and we are incredibly grateful for the generosity of these donors, many of whom are grateful patients or the family of those touched by breast cancer.”

In 2018, 3D breast imaging was added to the previous MMU and was transferred to the new unit. The new mobile unit and the 3D breast imaging equipment were made possible through philanthropic gifts.

To learn more about Mobile Mammography and Breast Health Outreach Program, click here for more information.

About The University of Tennessee Medical Center

The mission of The University of Tennessee Medical Center, the region’s only hospital to achieve status as a Magnet® recognized organization, is to serve through healing, education and discovery. UT Medical Center, a 685-bed, not-for-profit academic medical center, serves as a referral center for Eastern Tennessee, Southeast Kentucky and Western North Carolina. The medical center, the region’s only Level I Trauma Center, is one of the largest employers in Knoxville