Advantages and disadvantages of mammography

Mammography can help doctors find small tumors. The smaller the tumor, the more treatment options available and the higher the chance of cure.

Mammography is the only effective tool for early detection of DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ). As long as these DCIS are removed when they are confined in the mammary duct, the health of patients will not be affected.

Doubt:

The X-ray dose used in mammography is about 0.7 millisieverts, which is equivalent to the average person's background radiation for three months (from the environment, background radiation is everywhere in daily life), and it does little harm to human body. In order to ensure the safety of the public, the mammography policy promulgated by the federal government of the United States requires that every camera should be inspected by technicians every year to ensure that its radiation is within a safe range.

It is best for pregnant women to avoid mammography. If you are likely to get pregnant, be sure to tell your doctor or radiologist.

False positives (the image looks bad, but there is actually no cancer) are inevitable. The results made by most people are normal, and about 5- 15% of breast mammography subjects need further medical ultrasound examination or redone breast mammography examination. If abnormal lesions are found, follow-up or biopsy must be arranged, but only a few biopsies will find cancer cells. It is estimated that in the decade of 40-49 years old, about 30% of women who receive mammography every year have one or more false positive results, and during this decade, about 7-8% will receive breast biopsy. As for women over 50 years old, the false positive rate is about 25%.