Breast Center

A Division of Ancillary Services

Patients come first at the Marion County Medical Center’s Comprehensive Breast Center. We are dedicated to detecting, treating and preventing breast cancer – one of the most serious health concerns women face today. We offer a high level of expertise and state-of-the-art digital technology.

Marion County Medical Center was first in the Pee Dee Region to offer Digital technology. Digital Mammography gives us the unique ability to enhance your breast images for better detection. Our goal is to detect your breast cancer before you do, while it is at an early stage. Individual consultation is available to assist you and your family with the emotional, psychological and practical needs related to breast cancer detection and treatments.

We encourage all women, including those without symptoms, to visit our Comprehensive Breast Center. We offer educational and diagnostic services to help women remain healthy and to help us detect breast cancer in its earliest stages. We value the health of you and your family and we want you to live a long, healthy, prosperous life.


The Marion County Medical Center Comprehensive Breast Center is accredited by the American College of Radiologists and provides the following test and services:

Please join us in the fight against breast cancer! Call our department at 843.431.2655 for more information or to schedule an appointment.



Additional Terms to Know:

Sentinel Node Biopsy
In a sentinel node biopsy, a radioactive substance is injected into the area around the tumor. Lymphatic vessels carry these materials to the sentinel lymph node (the first lymph node to which the cancer is likely to spread). The doctor can see the blue dye or detect the radioactivity in the sentinel node, which is removed and examined. If the sentinel node contains cancer, more axillary lymph nodes (lymph nodes in the armpit) are removed.

Axillary Lymph Node Dissection
If a sentinel node biopsy shows the sentinel node (the first lymph node to which the cancer is likely to spread) is cancerous, axillary lymph nodes (lymph nodes in the armpit) will need to be removed. This surgical procedure allows doctors to determine if breast cancer has spread to those nodes and to remove any cancerous lymph nodes.

Ultrasound Guided Fine Needle Cyst Aspiration
An ultrasound guided fine needle cyst aspiration uses a needle and syringe to drain a lump or collect cells from a lump. This can determine whether a lump is solid or fluid filled. Using sound waves, your doctor will guide a needle into the lump. If the lump is a cyst, the doctor will drain the fluid.

Ultrasound Guided Core Needle Biopsy
An ultrasound guided core needle biopsy is used to remove a core of tissue from a solid lump. Using sound waves, your doctor will guide a needle into the suspicious breast area to obtain a sample for microscopic examination. The procedure uses a local anesthetic, leaves no scar and is considered highly accurate.

Needle/Wire Localization
Needle/Wire localization is used when mammography reveals a suspicious lesion, but you or your physician cannot feel any masses. Thin wire needles are placed, under radiologic guidance, as close to the mass as possible. Using the wire as a guide, the surgeon can then remove suspicious tissue.

Ultrasound
Ultrasound sends high-frequency sound waves into the breast, and then converts the echoes from those waves into an image of the breast tissue. Ultrasound is an accurate way to distinguish between solid and fluid-filled lumps, but it cannot detect small calcium deposits that may indicate cancer. If your doctor discovers a suspicious lump while you are pregnant, ultrasound may be preferable to a mammogram.