Breast cancer mammography
|
Breast Cancer Microchapters |
|
Diagnosis |
|---|
|
Treatment |
|
Case Studies |
|
Breast cancer mammography On the Web |
|
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Breast cancer mammography |
|
Risk calculators and risk factors for Breast cancer mammography |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1], Assistant Editor(s)-In-Chief: Jack Khouri
Overview
Mammography is the modality of choice for detection of early breast cancer. There are many advantages towards diagnostic usage of mammography: it is relatively fast, reasonably accurate, and widely available in developed countries. Breast cancers detected by mammography are usually much smaller (earlier stage) than those detected by patients or doctors as a breast lump.
Advantages
- Mammography has been estimated to reduce breast cancer-related mortality by 20-30%.[1]
Disadvantages
- Evidence in favor of mammographic diagnostic screening comes from eight randomized clinical trials from the 1960s through 1980s. Many of these trials have been criticised for methodological errors, and the results were summarized in a review article published in 1993.[2]
Procedure
- After a screening mammogram, some women may have areas of concern which can't be resolved with only the information available from the screening mammogram. They would then be called back for a "diagnostic mammogram". This phrase is essentially a problem-solving mammogram. During this session, the radiologist will be monitoring each of the additional films as they are taken to determine the cause of the abnormal appearance.
- During the procedure, the breast is compressed by a dedicated mammography machine to:
- Even out the tissue
- Increase image quality
- Hold the breast still (preventing motion blur).
- Due to imaging limitations, some elements may show up on x-ray as calcium spots. For this reason, women are discourage from applying the following on the day of the mammogram.
- The outcome of a mammogram may be benign or may require further investigation. If the cause cannot be determined to be benign with sufficient certainty, a biopsy will be recommended.
References
- ↑ Elwood J, Cox B, Richardson A. "The effectiveness of breast cancer screening by mammography in younger women". Online J Curr Clin Trials. Doc No 32: [23, 227 words, 195 paragraphs]. PMID 8305999.
- ↑ Fletcher SW, Black W, Harris R, Rimer BK, Shapiro S (1993). "Report of the International Workshop on Screening for Breast Cancer". J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 85 (20): 1644–56. PMID 8105098.
|access-date=requires|url=(help)