What does the mammogram

If the self-diagnosis breast increases the likelihood of early detection of cancer, what can a mammogram?
"Although mammography is not a perfect method of research, a mammogram may allow to detect cancer in the two years before it can make the patient or the doctor, says Dr. Logan-Young, and further warns that it is not perfect. If breast tissue is very dense, the woman or her doctor can palpate the tumor before it becomes visible on a mammogram. Yet it's amazing what can mammogram. The fact that half of all malignant tumors contain concentrations of calcium salts formed by the decay of cells which manifest themselves as white dashes, even visible on the background of dense breast tissue. "
"If the tumor develops near the edges of the breast, or if the response is not included with the formation of fibrous tissue, or if denser breast tissue than normal mammogram can not show the presence of tumors," adds Dr. Love.
Whatever it was, mammography increases survival of women over 50 with breast cancer by 30 percent.
"That is why I firmly believe in it, continues Dr. Love. And mammograms are more effective diagnosis, the older you get. With age, the tissues of mammary glands become less dense, which increases the probability of detecting deviations from the norm. "
Women undergo mammograms with anxiety. "Whenever you go on a mammogram, you are always scared and trembling, says Dr. Love. In the end, you're going to be tested to see if you have cancer. "
"When I go to an annual mammogram, I can not help but think about why I'm here, confirms Samantha Kern, 52-year-old writer. Yet this is not an ordinary X-ray examination. This is not a dentist, checking whether there is a hole in the tooth. I am here to see if I had breast cancer, and this fact can not be helped. While I sit and wait for the call, I think of my future and my health. What if I find anything? I think. Even worse, if they can not detect the disease has begun? I feel helpless in these difficult moments. "
Yes, at this point women are very vulnerable. But the results obtained and, together with them, in all probability, a relief. Because it is the desire to know the truth leads women here. "For every 200 mammograms that we host do, says Dr. Logan-Young, we find only one case of cancer. all right "with the remaining 199 women.
But what if your mammogram showed a deviation from the norm? Deviations from the norm regardless of whether the tumor would be benign or malignant causes severe anxiety, doctors agree. The study, performed by Karin Lerman, PhD, head of the department of behavioral oncology at the Cancer Center Fox Chase in Sheltenheme, Pennsylvania, and her colleagues found that about 40 percent of women, mammograms that cause suspicion, very worried for the period until the final diagnosis was made. About 25 percent of them said that the news of a suspicious mammogram affected them depressing. And 20 percent of women reported that all valilos out of their hands.
However, unlike those who detects suspicious changes in the process of self-diagnosis, women with "bad" mammograms were more likely to attend the study than women, a mammogram that showed no abnormalities.