Mammography is required to detect breast cancer. If you are prone to breast cancer and see any type of tightness or lumps in your breast, you should do mammography immediately. There is no pain during this process. So, let us know in detail about this process –
What is mammography?
A mammography or mammogram test is an x-ray of your breasts. This is a great way to identify breast cancer. Mammograms are an important part of the early diagnosis of breast cancer with a regular medical examination.
After 40 years or before, if you are at risk of breast cancer, then you should get a mammogram every year. If your doctor asks for a mammogram as a routine test to check for any cancer or change, it is called a screening mammogram. In a mammography test, your doctor will take several x-rays of each breast.
If you have lumps or any other symptoms of breast cancer, your doctor will ask for a diagnostic mammogram. If you have had breast implants, you will probably need a diagnostic mammogram. Diagnostic mammograms are better than screening mammograms.
Mammography can reduce the risk of fatal breast cancer by up to 41 percent
The main basis for detecting breast cancer and reducing the risk of this deadly disease is to get the disease diagnosed and screened at the earliest. The reason for this is that if the disease is diagnosed early, it helps to improve the patient’s health results.
Mammography screening can reduce the rate of fatal breast and advanced cancer to a great extent.
Within 10 years of diagnosis, fatal breast cancer can reduce the risk of cancer by 41 percent and the rate of advanced breast cancer by 25 percent.
Some guidelines before mammography-
- You will need to follow some guidelines on the day of the mammogram
- You cannot apply deodorant, body powder, or perfume. Also, you should not apply any ointments or creams to your breasts or underarm. These substances can spoil X-ray images.
- If you are pregnant or are likely to become pregnant, tell the doctor before the test.
What are the risks of mammography?
As with any type of X-ray, a very small amount of radiation is at risk during the mammogram. If you are pregnant and need a mammogram before your delivery date, you will usually be given a lead apron to wear during this procedure so that your baby is not harmed.
What is meant by the result of mammography?
Pictures taken with mammograms can help to find lumps or calcium deposits in your breasts. Most lumps are not a sign of cancer. Ulcers can also be found in the test – fluid-filled clots that come and go normally during some women’s menstrual cycles.
Here a mammogram called BI-RADS or breast imaging reporting and database system is a national diagnostic system. In this system, there are seven categories, ranging from 0 to 6. Each category describes whether additional pictures are necessary and whether an area is more likely to have a benign (cancer-free) or cancerous lump.
