A Guide for Your Annual Mammogram

To check for early indications of breast cancer, doctors use mammograms, an X-Ray image of the breast. Thanks to routine mammograms, breast cancer can sometimes be detected several years before symptoms appear.

Mammograms done on a regular basis can screen for breast cancer while they are too small to be felt or seen. Breast cancer has substantially greater survival rates and is much easier to treat when discovered at this early stage.

Who Should be Screened for Breast Cancer?

Women between 40 and 44 who show symptoms or are at high risk for contracting breast cancer should consider getting checked annually. The majority of breast cancer diagnoses occur beyond the age of 50. However, commencing screening for breast cancer in the 40s reduces the mortality rate by 25% in the 50s.

Women between the ages of 45 and 54 should continue yearly screening. It has been demonstrated that yearly screening is superior to biannual or non-annual screening for this age group in terms of early breast cancer detection.

Women with a family history of breast cancer should start screening ten years before the youngest member in the family was diagnosed with the disease.

Women should undergo a risk assessment at the age of thirty to determine when they should begin screening. However, screening is usually not recommended for those under thirty.

Women over 55 are advised by experts to get screened every one to two years. Studies on the efficacy and recommended frequency of screening for women over 70 are inconclusive due to the paucity of rigorous trials. Some studies have linked increasing age to an elevated risk of overdiagnosis.

For women at high risk or those requiring additional screening, alternative procedures to conventional mammography may be utilized.

How to Prepare for a Mammogram?

Before your mammography, refrain from putting on deodorant, lotions, creams, or perfumes on your breasts and underarms. On your mammography, several of these items may appear as white dots that are hard to distinguish from other white spots that might be solid masses.

Ensure that you tell your technologist if you are breastfeeding, pregnant, or think you could be, have breast implants, or have experienced recent changes in your breasts.

How is a Mammogram Done?

When performing a mammogram, the technologist places each breast on the mammography machine's bottom plate. The machine’s upper plate, or compression paddle, is lowered to compress your breasts. Two pictures are taken, one from above and one from the side. It just takes a few minutes to complete the process. The procedure might be a little uncomfortable for some women but not painful.

Conclusion

The mammography images will be examined by a physician for any indications of abnormalities. A second mammography, known as a diagnostic or magnified mammogram, will be done if your doctor finds anything that needs more examination. The purpose of this is to allow the physician to examine a specific breast region in greater detail. For women between the ages of 45 and 54, a yearly mammogram is advised in order to promptly and accurately explain any irregularities or concerns.