There are several reasons why women should get a breast mammogram regularly. All doctors agree that early detection of breast cancer, when it is in stage one, improves the chances of complete containment of the cancer. When caught before spreading to the lymph nodes, the breast cancer cells can be confined and the cancer will not spread. Several clinical studies have been done and they all point towards one direction – deaths from breast cancer can be cut by nearly 40 percent if women over 30 were screened annually. Another reason why women should go for screening is that in 9 out of 10 cases, this type of screening can discover the breast cancer a whole 2 years before a woman can feel a lump – this means waiting until you have a lump is not an effective way of avoiding breast cancer. Having this a breast mammogram is also important in discovering other tumors, be they malignant or benign, and action can be taken for continued breast health.

The fact that mammograms are now readily available, thanks to pressure from non-governmental organizations to governments, means there is no reason anyone should not have the screening. In some hospitals, the services are even offered free of charge. This screening method uses X-ray photographs of the breast and the machine works using the same principle as the normal chest X-ray machine. The breast is sandwiched between two plates and an X-ray beam is passed, giving a picture of the insides of the breast. Doctors are then able to detect abnormalities and they are able to determine the type of tumor because different tumors have different characteristics such as size, shape, etc.

Digital mammography is similar to the X-ray based screening method, the major difference being the fact that the pictures of the insides of the breast are projected onto a computer instead of an X-ray film. This method is advantageous because doctors can manipulate such things as the amount of light, the contrast, etc., meaning they can get more information from the screening.

Many women have a problem with mammography because they doubt the safety of the X-ray dose used. The fact is that a low dose of X-ray is used, which is in the region of 0.1 to 0.2 rad dose per X-ray, a dose that has no adverse effects. People are also apprehensive because they think the compression is painful. The fact is that only firm pressure is applied.

Women should not wait for the breast cancer awareness month to be shocked into getting a breast screening. Breast cancer is one of the greatest killers in the world and women will be doing themselves and their family a favor if they got a screening. Men also get breast cancer and they too should get a breast mammogram from time to time.