By the time a woman has had her first gynecological exam, her mother or her doctor has already instructed her on how to check for breast cancer. While a self exam is a good practice and no one should be discouraged from doing it regularly, a woman can not feel a lump in her breast until it has already gotten past a certain size. A more effective exam is the mammogram, which can see very tiny masses of cells and give the patient a better chance of surviving the cancer.
A mammogram is an x-ray performed while the breast is compressed. When the breast tissue is compressed, the tissue is forced to spread outward so that a better picture can be taken. The patient feels some pressure or squeezing while the exam is taking place, but the most uncomfortable portion of the exam only takes a moment to complete for each breast. The breasts are x-rayed individually and the whole exam should only take about twenty minutes.
The doctor who takes the x-ray is called a radiologist, and she will check the pictures for unusual areas of tissue and for differences between the patients breasts. She will also compare the current x-ray with those that were taken in the past. The doctor will look for masses or lumps with irregular edges since benign masses usually have a smooth outline. She will also look for masses of calcium that are tiny as opposed to larger ones which are usually caused by aging.
If the mammogram shows an area that concerns the doctor, she will ask for more tests. Choices available to her include an ultrasound which uses sound waves to see an image of the breast tissue, an MRI which uses the power of a magnet to make a picture with much detail or she may order a biopsy which removes some of the tissue in question to determine if the mass is cancer.