RICHMOND — The Virginia Department of Corrections announced today that the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in mammography as the result of a recent review by the American College of Radiology.

The American College of Radiology (ACR) gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR practice parameters and technical standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field.

“By receiving the ACR gold seal of accreditation, our facility’s personnel qualifications, equipment requirements, and quality control procedures have met specific standards,” said Dr. Paul Targonski, Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women (FCCW) Medical Director and University of Virginia Health System faculty. “For our patients needing a breast exam, it means receiving the highest level of patient safety and imaging quality.”

A new mammogram machine for the women’s prison, a Fujifilm Aspire Cristalle, was installed in October 2020 to aid in the early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases. The Cristalle is a 3-D, state of the art tomosynthesis machine. Tomosynthesis is an advanced type of mammography.

“The 3-D tomosynthesis allows us to visualize more minute findings that we were unable to see clearly on the 2-D machine we had previously,” said Dr. Carrie Rochman MD, the Lead Interpreting Physician for FCCW and Associate Professor of Breast Imaging at the University of Virginia (UVA). “I think it is a huge improvement in image quality for our patients.”

The review period for the ACR accreditation lasted 45 days, from November 30, 2020 to January 14, 2021. FCCW’s three-year accreditation was received on March 4, 2021.

“We want the women at our facility to have the highest quality care available and the best clinical outcomes,” said Rebecca Peters R.T. (R)(M)(ARRT), Fluvanna’s mammography technologist, who spearheaded the acquisition and operation of the 3-D mammography machine.