6 Mammogram Myths

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Dr. Sarah Zeb, breast imaging specialist at Johns Hopkins Medical Imaging, debunks common myths virtually mammograms.

Think it's non a big deal skipping your almanac mammogram  this year? Or are you lot concerned that a mammogram uses besides much radiation?

A yearly mammogram for women forty and older helps to detect breast cancer  earlier, leading to less ambitious handling and a higher rate of survival.

Myth #i: I don't have any symptoms of breast cancer or a family unit history, and so I don't demand to worry about having an annual mammogram.

Fact: The American College of Radiology recommends almanac screening mammograms for all women over forty, regardless of symptoms or family unit history. "Early detection is critical," says Dr. Sarah Zeb. "If you lot wait to take a mammogram until you have symptoms of breast cancer, such as a lump or discharge, at that betoken the cancer may be more advanced ." According to the American Cancer Society, early-phase breast cancer has a five-year survival rate of 99 per centum. Later-stage cancer has a survival rates of 27 percent.

More than 75 percent of women who accept chest cancer have no family history.

Myth #2: A mammogram will expose me to an unsafe level of radiations.

Fact: "While a mammogram does apply radiation, it is a very small-scale corporeality and is inside the medical guidelines," says Dr. Zeb. Because mammography is a screening tool, information technology is highly regulated by the Nutrient and Drug Administration, Mammography Quality and Standards Act and other governing organizations, like the American Higher of Radiology. A mammogram is safety as long as the facility you go to is certified by the regulating agencies. There is constant background radiations in the world that we are exposed to every mean solar day. The radiation dose from a mammogram is equal to about ii months of background radiation for the average woman.

What to Expect During Your Showtime Mammogram

A mammogram is an important pace in taking care of yourself and your breasts merely non knowing what to anticipate can be stressful. Join Monica for her beginning mammogram experience with <a href="https://world wide web.hopkinsmedicine.org/imaging/">Johns Hopkins Medical Imaging</a> to learn more about how to ready for a mammogram and what to expect during and afterwards the exam.

Myth #3: A iii-D mammogram is the same equally a traditional mammogram.

Fact: 3-dimensional mammography, or tomosynthesis , is the most mod screening and diagnostic tool available for early detection of chest cancer. Compared to a standard 2-D mammogram, a three-D mammogram displays more images of the breast and in thin sections of chest tissue. "3-D mammograms provide us greater clarity and the ability to determine the deviation between overlapping normal tissue and cancer," says Dr. Zeb. "With 3-D mammography, the data show a forty percent increase in detecting early cancer and a xl percent decrease in false alarms or unnecessary recalls from screening."

Seminar A Breast Radiologist's Perspective: Screening Mammography and Diagnostic Imaging

Breast imaging experts explain breast imaging and the deviation betwixt screening and diagnostic mammograms.

Myth #four: If I take any type of cancer in my chest tissue, a screening mammogram is guaranteed to find information technology.

Fact: "While annual mammograms are very important for women, at that place are limitations," says Dr. Zeb. This is mostly due to dense breast tissue — the denser the breast, the more likely information technology is that a cancer volition be hidden by the tissue. "Normal breast tissue can both hide a cancer and mimic a cancer," says Dr. Zeb. In addition to an annual mammogram other imaging methods including a breast ultrasound and a chest MRI can be used for women with dense breast tissue.

Myth #5: I had a normal mammogram last twelvemonth, and then I don't need another one this year.

Fact: Mammography is detection, non prevention. "Having a normal mammogram is great news, merely it does not guarantee that futurity mammograms will be normal," says Dr. Zeb. "Having a mammogram every yr increases the run a risk of detecting the cancer when it is small and when information technology is most hands treated which too improves survival."

Myth #vi: My doctor didn't tell me I needed a mammogram, so I cannot schedule an examination.

Fact: You practise non need your doc to write yous a prescription or consummate an society form for you to accept a screening mammogram. "The recommendation is that if you are a adult female from age 40 on, you should have a mammogram every year, even if your doctor forgets to mention it," says Dr. Zeb. Women tin can self-request to brand an date for their almanac mammogram for earlier detection of breast cancer.

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