Mammogram To Detect The Breast Changes!

Mammogram, an X-ray exam of the breast used to detect and evaluate the breast changes in women who suspect any abnormality of the breast.

Usually, mammogram is used to detect cancer in women who have no symptoms. It is called as screening mammogram.

There are two types of mammography exam. One is screening mammography and the other is diagnostic mammography.

Screening mammography: It is an X-ray examination of breasts in women who are asymptomatic. The main aim of screening mammography is detecting cancer when it is too small to be felt by you or the physician.

Detecting the breast cancer during its early stages can greatly improve the chance of successful treatment. Women above the age of 40 years should be recommended to consider screening mammography for every one to two years and women above the age of 50 years should consider it for every year.

Diagnostic mammography: It is an X-ray examination of breasts in women who either have breast complaints such as breast lump or nipple discharge, have had any abnormality found in screening mammography.

Diagnostic mammography takes more time when compared to screening mammography. The main aim of this mammography is to find out the exact size and location of breast abnormalities and to image the surrounding tissue and lymph nodes.

During diagnostic mammography, several views of your breast are imaged and interpreted. So, this procedure is little bit expensive when compared to screening mammography. Women with history of breast cancer or with breast implants will need several views taken in diagnostic mammography.

How is a mammogram performed?

During the mammogram, your breast is compressed between an X-ray plate and a plastic plate. Breast compression is essential for spreading the tissue part. It ensures little movement so that the image is taken in precise shape and also your screening needs lower X-ray dose.

While compressing the breast, you may feel little discomfort and it is also painful. But this discomfort lasts only for few seconds and finally it produces a good mammogram image. The whole mammogram procedure takes about 20 minutes.

Mammogram produces black and white x-ray image of your breast tissue. Depending on the mammography device, you will get the image on a large sheet of X-ray film or an electronic image that can be looked on a computer screen.

Mammogram image reading is challenging for most of the radiologists. The way the breast appears on a mammogram varies greatly from one woman to another. Certain breast cancers produce changes in the mammogram, which can be difficult to examine.