Side effects of mammography

Breast mammography is currently a common method of choice for diagnosing breast diseases. Its main advantages are that it is simple and convenient, safe and reliable, without any trauma, and with very little pain. Repeated examinations can be performed without worrying about any problems with the patient's body. There may be some abnormal manifestations during the examination, which need to be understood clearly to avoid causing some bad problems to the body later, so that many diseases cannot be discovered in the end, causing a lot of trouble and burden.

Mammography, whose full name is breast mammography X-ray examination, also known as molybdenum-palladium examination, is currently the preferred, simplest and most reliable non-invasive detection method for diagnosing breast diseases. It is relatively less painful, simple and easy to perform, with high resolution and good repeatability. The images retained can be used for before-and-after comparison, and are not restricted by age or body shape. It is currently used as a routine examination.

Its characteristic is that it can detect breast lumps that doctors cannot feel, especially for large breasts and fatty breasts. Its diagnostic accuracy can be as high as 95%. For T0 breast cancer (clinical outpatient negative) with a few tiny calcifications as the only manifestation, it can only be discovered and diagnosed early with the help of soft X-ray examinations. The diagnostic sensitivity of breast cancer is 82%~89%, and the specificity is 87%~94%.

Abnormal situations

1. Calcification

The calcification conditions on the molybdenum target image include: flake calcification, cluster calcification, fine point micro calcification, etc. Computer-aided detection of microcalcifications in mammographic X-ray images has become a research hotspot for early diagnosis of breast cancer. This is mainly because small, granular, clustered microcalcifications are an important early manifestation of breast cancer. Foreign statistics show that 30% to 50% of breast malignant tumors are accompanied by microcalcification.

2. Tumor

Space-occupying lesions that can be seen at two different projection positions, among which the edge sign is the most important for judging the nature of the mass, which can be manifested as clear edges, blurred edges, invasive growth, or radial line shadows emanating from the edge of the mass. Compared with the surrounding breast tissue, most breast lumps have high or equal density, and very few may show low density.

3. Structural distortion

It refers to distortion of normal structures without a clear mass visible, including radiating shadows and focal constriction from a single point, or distortion at the edge of the parenchyma.

4. Other Signs

Such as nipples, skin, axillary lymph nodes, etc.

BI-RADS reporting system

BI-RADS level 0: other examinations are required

BI-RADS grade 1: negative

BI-RADS grade 2: benign

BI-RADS 3: possibly benign, short-term follow-up required

BI-RADS 4: Suspected of malignancy, biopsy recommended

4A: Low Suspicion

4B: Moderately Suspicious

4C: High but Uncertain

BI-RADS grade 5: Highly malignant

BI-RADS 6: pathologically confirmed malignancy