Mammograms

Mammography has been considered the primary screening tool by the medical industry for nearly twenty years. The procedure looks at each breast one at a time. The breast is compressed between two glass plates so that a one-dimensional image can be taken with ionized radiation. Sometimes a number of x-rays are taken of each breast in order to see through denser breast tissue. Mammograms can detect lumps of various types but has a difficult time distinguishing between solid tumors as would be found in a malignancy and fluid filled tumors as would be found in the case of fiber-adenoma cyst. More recently a targeted ultrasound is ordered after a mammogram to distinguish between these two because so many unnecessary biopsies were being performed. Mammograms can also see micro-calcification, which are calcified cholesterol deposits. When these deposits are found in certain patterns it can indicate the presence of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS). Only 80% of the time micro-calcifications accurately diagnose this pre-cancerous condition and 20% it is just a cholesterol deposit. Click here for more information on DCIS.

Mammography cannot view tissue outside of the glass plates. When considering that up to 40% of breast cancer is found in the auxiliary region (below the armpit), it is no wonder that its false negative rate is so high. In addition 85% of biopsies ordered from a mammogram are negative.