Mammogram?

A mammogram is a low-dose X-ray exam used by health care providers to evaluate for abnormalities in the breast not felt by a clinical breast exam, or to evaluate abnormal breast findings.

Mammograms can be used for two reasons - to screen for or diagnose a breast abnormality, and are used in women with and without symptoms.

When used for screening purposes, mammograms are utilized by health care providers to evaluate women who do not display symptoms or abnormal findings with the goal of detecting cancer prior to the onset of clinical symptoms. These mammograms may also locate calcium deposits referred to as microcalcifications, which may be related to breast cancer

< Diagnostic mammograms on the other hand, are used to evaluate abnormal findings such as a lump, pain, skin changes, nipple thickening, nipple discharge, change in breast size or change in size of an existing lump.

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The goal of a mammogram is to find cancer, however, other findings may be discovered during the test. Some possible mammogram findings include:

Lumps or masses

The radiologist will evaluate the shape and contour of these findings to determine a suspicion for cancer versus a benign mass. Benign masses generally appear smooth and round with a clearly defined border whereas cancerous masses appear more irregular with a jagged border.

Calcifications

A calcification (seen as white spots on a mammogram) is a calcium deposit often caused by cell secretions, cell debris, inflammation and trauma.

There are two types of calcification -

macrocalcifications and microcalcifications:

1. Macrocalcification: these calcium deposits are large, often due to normal aging and are usually not cancerous

2. Microcalcifications: very small deposits of calcium, which may be associated with cancer;

they are generally found in areas where there are rapidly dividing cells. Distorted tissue , dense tissue or new breast densities Dense areas represent areas of the breast tissue that have more glands than fat. Masses and calcifications in these areas are challenging to identify; areas such as this may at times be representative of cancer, with distorted areas being possible spread to other surrounding tissue.

NOTE: To obtain a screening mammogram is to detect cancer early prior to it metastasizing or spreading to other parts of the body.