Photo caption: Ribbon cutting for the new Women’s Imaging Center at St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus.
New Women’s Imaging Center at Bethlehem Campus
St. Luke’s University Health Network is expanding access to diagnostic breast imaging with the opening of a new Women’s Imaging Center at St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus.
“This investment in advanced imaging technology is a reflection of St. Luke’s commitment to providing the very best individualized breast care for each patient based on their unique history and risk factors,” said St. Luke’s Michele Brands, Network Director of Women’s Imaging.
The new diagnostic services at Bethlehem include:
- Diagnostic mammography on GE HealthCare’s Senographe Pristina featuring superior diagnostic accuracy for 3D diagnostic breast tomosynthesis at the same low dose as a 2D full-field digital mammography, the lowest for all thicknesses among the major systems available in the marketplace[1] [2]
- Stereotactic and Ultrasound-guided biopsies
- Diagnostic Breast Ultrasound
- Screening mammograms
Nationally, wait times for screening and diagnostic mammograms have grown since Covid. The opening of the new center at the Bethlehem Campus will provide patients with an additional, centrally located diagnostic imaging option.
“St. Luke’s is committed to improving access to mammography and breast ultrasound services for women in the Lehigh Valley,” said Karl N. Yaeger, MD, Division Chief- Women’s Imaging. “By increasing diagnostic access for patients at the newly renovated Bethlehem campus, we can now expand access to the One Stop Breast Clinic services at the Regional Breast Center in Center Valley.”
In 2022, St. Luke’s became the first and only US health system to operate a One-Stop Clinic – serving as a national model for how to help accelerate breast cancer care through a multi-modality approach. The One-Stop Clinic for Breast model, which originated at the Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in France, has been shown to improve clinical workflow and speed up breast cancer diagnosis and treatment planning. St. Luke’s offers One-Stop Breast Clinic services at both Regional Breast Centers in Center Valley and Monroe County.
“St Luke’s pioneered a novel approach to integrated breast cancer care with One-Stop Clinic, helping to accelerate the time to diagnosis and treatment with the aim of saving patient lives. Expanding diagnostic services to Bethlehem is an exciting next step to improving access to care in the community,” said Pooja Pathak, VP and General Manager, Global Mammography at GE Healthcare. “We are pleased that GE HealthCare’s Senographe Pristina 3D mammography system is helping support St. Lukes’ commitment to ensuring patients receive the diagnostic services they need, when they need them.”
[1] Phantom measurements as of July 2024. Senographe Pristina with default value STD mode.
Dose comparison based on NHS Breast Screening Program equipment reports. https://medphys.royalsurrey.nhs.uk/nccpm/?s=technicalreports.
2 Superior diagnostic accuracy demonstrated in a reader study comparing the ROC AUC of GE screening protocol (V-Preview + 3D CC/MLO with 3D in STD mode) to that of 2D FFDM alone. FDA PMA P130020.
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley’s biggest employer.
The Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 50+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 500+ residents and fellows.
St. Luke’s has been named a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. It is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. In 2025, the Network earned straight A’s from Leapfrog across all of its 11 acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 11 years in a row, including in 2021 when its flagship University Hospital was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
[1] Phantom measurements as of July 2024. Senographe Pristina with default value STD mode.
Dose comparison based on NHS Breast Screening Program equipment reports. https://medphys.royalsurrey.nhs.uk/nccpm/?s=technicalreports.
[2] Superior diagnostic accuracy demonstrated in a reader study comparing the ROC AUC of GE screening protocol (V-Preview + 3D CC/MLO with 3D in STD mode) to that of 2D FFDM alone. FDA PMA P130020.
