The Island now has a new weapon in the fight against breast cancer — with new equipment unveiled that promises to make the screening process faster and less stressful.

The Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre announced yesterday that it has received two new state-of-the-art digital scanning systems which can provide faster and more accurate results than the older analogue machines.

The older system took X-ray 'photographs' which took time to develop and could be difficult to read, according to Patricia Rowse, chief technologist at the centre.

The new system provides an image within 10 seconds which can then be manipulated to improve clarity.

"There are fewer steps, so a lot less waiting time," Mrs. Rowse said. "It's taken out a lot of possible errors. The processor can't eat your film anymore."

The images produced by the new machines can be greatly enlarged, allowing doctors to better recognise signs of danger, and unlike the older images, the colour of the images can be manipulated to bring out more detail.

Also, because the images are now received in seconds instead of hours, any mistakes in the scanning process can be immediately fixed which could dramatically reduce patients' stress, said Pauline Girling, the centre's marketing, public relations and fund raising director.

"If something went wrong, we would have to call you up and ask you to come in again, which to a lot of people sounds like something has gone wrong, that something's bad, when that might not be the case at all," said Mrs. Girling.

In the future, the centre hopes that they will be able to electronically send the images overseas for second opinions or to aid surgeons prior to surgery, but for now the images have to be sent on a CD.

"The future is teleradiology. You will be able to have access to such incredible expertise," said Mrs. Girling. "That's our future. It will become a reality."

Unfortunately, while the new equipment will provide Bermuda with improved early screening of breast cancer, the machines are quite expensive, costing around $1.5 million for the two.

So far, the centre has raised more than $1.2 million toward the improved machines. To completely fund the equipment and their instillation, another $250,000 is needed by the end of the year.

"We're pinning our hopes on the continued financial support of our loyal community in the months ahead as we plan various events leading up to the month of October, which is recognised as Breast Cancer Awareness Month," said Mrs. Girling.

The centre, formerly known at the Bermuda TB Cancer and Health Association, was founded in 1945, making it one of Bermudas oldest operating charities. It opened its Point Finger Road facility, which houses the new scanning systems, in 2003.