Screening Mammography

Early detection is a woman’s best chance of surviving breast cancer and mammography plays a central role in early detection of breast cancers or abnormalities in the breast tissue. A screening mammogram can illustrate changes in the breast up to five years before a woman or her physician can feel them.

During your mammogram, low dose X-rays are passed through the breast to obtain two views of the tissue in each breast. The breast tissue is firmly but gently compressed in order to spread the glandular tissue apart so a cancer or an abnormality can easily be seen and identified if it is present. Compression also minimizes the radiation dose to the breast, and improves the quality of the image, of greatest importance in the detection of microscopic calcifications.

Research has shown that annual mammograms lead to early detection of breast cancers, when they are most curable and when breast-conservation therapies are appropriate. Current guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the American Cancer Society (ACS), the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Radiology (ACR) recommend screening mammography every year for women, beginning at age 40.