Preventive radiological breast screening
The periodic radiological examination of women without symptoms of breast cancer , practiced in various ways around the world, constitutes the breast screening programme. It is a much discussed topic within and outside medical circles due to popularity of the issue of breast cancer. Unfortunately, this has also led to the existence of misinformation about non-existent risks of screening radiological examinations.
Purpose and objectives of the breast cancer prevention programme
The aim of the prevention programme is to diagnose breast cancer at an earlier stage than without screening. Why? Of course because early breast cancer is completely curable!
The goals that the implementation of mammography in the prevention program has achieved are as follows:
- We can find smaller lumps than if we did not use it
- Multiple scientific studies show a clear reduction in mortality from the time of implementing breast screening
- With the mass implementation of breast screening, life expectancy of women as a whole increased
.
Which breast X-ray examinations should I have
?
- Mammography: The cornerstone of breast cancer prevention and early diagnosis. An affordable test, with comparable results, easy and quick to perform. In many health systems it is the only test prescribed as part of mass prevention. Today, digital mammography and the newer and more accurate method of digital tomosynthesis are widely used
- Breast Ultrasound: A fantastic diagnostic tool for the radiologist, but also to aid invasive breast procedures (see Invasive Breast Ultrasound as applied in the Breast Care Clinic, for guided breast biopsy or as an intraoperative breast ultrasound). In prevention it has a subsidiary position, as a complement to mammography. It is particularly valuable in women with very high breast gland density.
- Mammography or MRI of the Breast: Examination that gives very valuable and detailed information about the breasts. Unfortunately, its high cost limits its application in the context of prevention only to young women at very high risk, when they are unable to have a mammogram
.
.
