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dedicated 25 years to patient care at the facility. Under his leadership, the Falk Breast Health Center was the first breast program in Centra l New York to offer stereotactic core biopsies and ultrasound- guided biopsies, the first to go all digital and 3D, and then the first to launch an MRI program. "I've spoken with physicians at other centers where MRIs are a relatively new addition to their set of tools," Dr. Sartori says. "Yet, we've used MRIs for as long as I can remember." Drs. Sa r tori a nd Schu have ser ved the Central New York region for more than 30 years, and together they have witnessed the evolution of breast cancer treatment in the area. The Crouse Hospita l Brea st Ca re Program's early adoption of core biopsy, a procedure that revolutionized breast can- cer diagnosis, provides Dr. Montgomery a nd h i s t ea m at Crou se R a d iolog y Associates elevated professional cred- ibility in that area. "We rarely, if ever, need to do an open biopsy to make a diagnosis now, and the information we get from Dr. Montgomery's team with the core biopsy is the first step in planning a patient's definitive surgery," Dr. Sartori says. "That's been the advantage to practicing here — that and the ability to detect small cancers we couldn't see before." Tammy Congelli, MD, general surgeon and breast surgery specialist with Central New York Surgical Physicians, says the " We didn't need a new affiliation. We have great oncologists and really talented surgeons dedicated to breast care. And Crouse Hospital has the newest technology. Breast Care Partners just pulled us all together." — KATIE TINDALL, NP, BREAST HEALTH NURSE NAVIGATOR AT BREAST CARE PARTNERS " The program that Breast Care Partners has put together is completely integrated, with a computer system that links all of the offices together. That way, records are easily accessible to all. We provide one place for anything our patients might need." — STEPHEN MONTGOMERY, MD, DIRECTOR OF BREAST IMAGING AT DR. HADLEY J. FALK BREAST HEALTH CENTER consistently high quality of the radiolo- gists' technique and interpretation makes her job easier. "We still look at patient mammograms, too, but we have the utmost confidence that when a radiologist reads a mammogram, we're getting an expert reading as well as an accurate diagnosis when they are performing biopsies," Dr. Congelli says. Dr. Montgomery sees his team's exper- tise ref lected in the data. He says the program meets and exceeds all national benchmarks for detection rates. MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION The mutual respect among the members of Breast Care Partners is the product of longstanding professional relationships. Central New York Surgical Physicians reg u la rly worked w ith Hematolog y- O nc olo g y A s s o c i a t e s of C N Y lon g before t he pa r tnership wa s of f icia l. A nd the fact that both Centra l New York Surgica l Physicians and Crouse Radiolog y Associates were located in Crouse Hospital resulted in "a vertical M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S C E N T R A L N E W Y O R K ■ 2 019 0 7