A mammography is one of the most common tools used to check for breast cancer. However there has been a lot of focus put upon whether a mammography is actually safe and you can even get health insurance coverage for mammography too. So is having a mammography bad for you or is it simply something which can save your life?

What is a Mammography?

A mammography is basically an x-ray which scans the breast and gives back a detailed image of its findings. It is used to detect breast cancer in its early stages and there are roughly around 48 million people who have mammograms every year within the United States of America.

Shadows in mammography are what the doctor is looking for, as that shows any abnormalities within the breast. If a shadow is found however it does not instantly mean that you have breast cancer; but it is a possibility. Sometimes architectural distortion in mammography is found and that can lead to further tests.

The Different Types of Mammography

A new advance within mammograms is a Cad mammography which stands for Computer Aided Detection and it studies the results after the radiologist has looked at them. This means that if there is something wrong, if it is not picked up by the radiologist then the Cad system will pick it up.

Also another alternative to an ordinary mammogram is a digital mammography. With this the mammography jobs include converting x-rays into electric signals. These are then used to create images of the breast which is then shown on a computer screen. Digital mammography can only be performed in certified mammography facilities. If you need more information try and find digital mammography education resources.

So, out of the mammography methods, which is better out of digital versus analog mammography? Well it seems that digital mammography is becoming more and more popular and it is thought that it does have a slightly higher detection rate than analog mammography but the two are still almost the same overall.

Overall over time the mammography has come on a long way. If you look back into mammography history you will see that there was not a lot of knowledge regarding the test at all. In the history of mammography there was no mammography education online and information was not easily accessible. Now though there is a continuing education in mammography and by looking at mammography continuing education you will be able to find out everything that you need to know about the diagnosis and how important it is to have yourself checked regularly.