Mammography

Midtown Imaging Women’s Center is dedicated to providing state-of-the-art health care especially designed to meets the needs of women today. Mammography is one of the best tools for diagnosing breast cancer. Mammography uses a low dose x-ray that is capable of detecting breast cancer in its early stages, and the earlier breast cancer is detected, the more likely treatment will be successful. The FDA reports that 80 to 90 percent of breast cancers can be found by mammography.

There are two types of mammograms - screening and diagnostic. Screening mammography is a routine procedure performed when there are no symptoms or complaints from the patient or any sign of breast cancer.

Screenings should be done every year beginning at age 40 unless otherwise ordered by your physician. Please note that a physician may begin screenings earlier if there is a strong history of breast cancer in your family or other noted health concerns.

Diagnostic mammography is for women that have a complaint of a breast lump, redness, skin dimpling, nipple discharge, inverted nipples or an abnormality found during a screening mammogram.

Diagnostic mammography is used to determine the exact size and location of a growth and can also detect infiltration of surrounding tissue and lymph nodes. The benefits of a mammogram far outweigh the risk of breast cancer or inconvenience. This procedure can detect a "lump" up to two years before it is actually felt. Mammography can also detect the type of calcifications that are formed in the breasts by some types of breast cancer.

Screening mammography remains the mainstay of breast cancer risk management and prevention. According to American Cancer Society guidelines, all women, regardless of their risk of breast cancer, should undergo yearly clinical breast examinations beginning at age 20 and annual mammography beginning at age 40.

Early Detection and Screening

When caught early, breast cancer is one of the most curable cancers. Women diagnosed with cancers in Stage 0 or I experience a 95 percent cure rate. Survival rates go down dramatically if the cancer is detected after it spreads to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body. While regular clinical and patient self-breast exams are important, mammography is the best screening tool.

Benefits

• Imaging of the breast improves a physician's ability to detect small tumors. When cancers are small, the woman has more treatment options and a cure is more likely.
• The use of screening mammography increases the detection of small abnormal tissue growths confined to the milk ducts in the breast, called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). These early tumors cannot harm patients if they are removed at this stage and mammography is the only proven method to reliably detect these tumors.

Risks

• The effective radiation dose from a mammogram is about 0.7 mSv, which is about the same as the average person receives from background radiation in three months.
• Women should always inform their doctor or x-ray technologist if there is any possibility that they are pregnant.
• False Positive Mammograms. Five percent to fifteen percent of screening mammograms require more testing such as additional mammograms or ultrasound. Most of these tests turn out to be normal.

Make your appointment today at Midtown Imaging Women’s Center and stay ahead of your health.