Staff photo / Nathanael Hawthorne Shelly Lamb, operations manager for medical imaging with Steward Health Care, explains how 3D mammograms can offer a more accurate reading than a conventional two-dimensional exam. Steward unveiled its new “mammovan” — a mobile mammography center — Friday at the Austintown location. The center will see patients in both Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

AUSTINTOWN — Women in Mahoning and Trumbull counties now have the option to get a 3D mammogram through Steward Health Care facilities.

Friday, a 3D Mobile Mammography Center was unveiled at Steward Health Center, 20 Ohltown Road. The unique aspect of this technology is that it splits time between the Austintown location and a facility on Elm Road NE in Bazetta.

Monday through Wednesday the center is in Cortland, and Thursday and Friday the center is in Austintown.

Mammography in three dimensions is not a new technology, “but it is new for the Steward market in Trumbull and Mahoning counties. We’re very excited to be able to offer this service,” said Shelly Lamb, operations manager for medical imaging.

Lamb noted that the 3D model offers radiologists a better look at scans , which decreases the chances of misreads. Information from the health company states the 3D exam allows doctors to examine breast tissue layer by layer: “Instead of viewing all complexities of your breast tissue in a flat image, as with conventional 2D mammography, fine details are more visible and no longer hidden by the tissue above or below.”

Lamb also said that Steward will give women an opportunity to get the 3D imaging rather than 2D, saying it is all a personal preference.

“When you get a prescription from your physician, it doesn’t have to state 2D or 3D,” Lamb said. “Women are very up and educated on the newer technologies so they’ve been asking for it. We always offer both.”

The price tag for what Lamb dubbed the ‘mammovan’ is $750,000 and has already seen patients in the Bazetta location, according to Steward’s Marketing Director Alexa Polinsky.