Mammography 101
What is a mammogram, what can I expect and how to prepare?
Mammography: a proven tool that has saved lives
A mammogram is an x-ray picture of the breast. It can be used to check for breast cancer in women who have no signs or symptoms of the disease. It can also be used if you have a lump or other sign of breast cancer.
Screening mammography is a mammogram you get regularly; when you go in with no concerns, that is called screening. Screening mammography helps to find cancer early, and because most women will not develop breast cancer, less than 1 in every 100 women who get a screening mammogram will get a cancer diagnosis that year. You may be asked by your provider to have more images taken if they see anything that looks unusual, but that doesn’t mean you have cancer. Your healthcare providers will always want to be super careful.
3D scans have many more images and typically take twice as long for radiologists to read.
Sometimes – often due to dense breast tissue – radiologists cannot see a cancer on a mammogram. Because of this, researchers and doctors are continually seeking better ways to detect breast cancer as early as possible. Mammography has been used for many years and we have found several ways to make it even better as new technology is discovered! Worldwide, most screening mammography is performed using 2D scans but the latest technology using 3D scans is growing. This 3D technology is formally called Digital Breast Tomosynthesis but we will refer to it here as 3D mammography.
The good news is your radiologist can use Transpara with both 2D and 3D mammography!
