The Burlington County Times recently published an article about the importance of mammograms and the difference between digital, MRI and ultrasound screening methods.
Mammograms used to be performed with film, but most now are digital, which helps better detect irregularities, according to Robert A. Somer, MD, Associate Director of the Cooper Cancer Institute’s breast program at Cooper. If a screening result is abnormal, further testing is required. Those tests can include an ultrasound, an MRI, a biopsy, or all three.
“It’s not used for screening, it’s used as a problem-solving technique if a mammogram is suspicious,” Dr. Somer said of the follow-up tests.
An ultrasound involves sound waves going through the breasts and the health care professional is primarily looking for lumps and masses to determine if they are solid or fluid-filled cysts. A solid mass has a greater potential to be cancerous than a fluid cystic mass, but a biopsy is the only way to make sure whether a lump or cyst is cancer.
An MRI provides doctors with detailed three-dimensional images through magnets and radio waves instead of X-rays, Somer said. During an MRI, an injection of contrast dye is used to make the breast tissue image clear. One bad thing about MRI use is the high rate of false positives, Somer said.