Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Importance Of Mammography San Diego CA

By Jaclyn Hurley


Mammography is a technique that utilizes X rays to diagnose breast cancer. It produces a mammogram or a soft tissue X ray of the breast. This gives a physician an opportunity to see tumors that are impossible to detect when one is examined physically. This procedure also reveals any other tumor that is present in the breast and doctors can know if it is cancerous. By using the services of facilities that provide mammography San Diego CA dwellers can know if they have breast cancer early enough for successful treatment

Research studies show that women who have breast cancer are more likely to survive if it is detected in its early stage. Cure rates of up to ninety percent have been reported in patients who have minimal tumors. Before undergoing the procedure patients should inform their physicians if they are expectant or planning to conceive. They should also avoid applying lotion, cream, body powder or deodorant on their chests on the day when the test will be performed to ensure accuracy.

Before you undergo the procedure, the radiographical technologist will ask you to remove everything you are wearing above your waist and put on a hospital gown. You can go for the test wearing a two piece garment. You will also be asked to remove any jewelry before undergoing the procedure and stand in front of an X ray machine with your breasts held on a breast support table.

The mammography technologist will then press the two radiographic breast supports together to flatten your breast gently. Compressing the breasts helps ensure that the clearest possible picture is obtained with the least amount of radiation. This pressure may cause you to feel slight discomfort but it will last for a few seconds only as the technician takes the x ray.

Your breasts will be imaged in various positions so that a radiologist can clearly observe all the tissues. After the procedure is over, your physician will be provided with the results and he or she will let you know what they mean and whether you need to be tested further. Patients who undergo this procedure are normally sent their results by mail within thirty days.

According to research completed by the American Cancer Society, about one or two patients out the one thousand patients who get mammograms are found to have breast cancer. On average, ten percent of these patients are asked to get further tests. Only eight to ten percent of women who have gotten a mammogram are asked to get a biopsy and only twenty percent of biopsies show the presence of cancerous cells in breasts.

Most companies that offer wellness insurance spend for diagnostic mammograms every 1 or 2 years for women who have attained the age of 40. Using mammography to check for breast cancer is controversial. This is due to fearing that this procedure exposes patients to high levels of radiation that can increase the risk of getting breast cancer.

Women should not be afraid of getting a mammogram because new X ray machines do not expose patients to high radiation levels. Older machines exposed patients to as much as 10 rads of radiation. This is hazardous particularly if a patient undergoes the procedure regularly over ten or more years. Modern X ray machines expose patients to lower than 1 rad of radiation.




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