title: Mammography: who, when, and why?
abstract: Breast cancer screening includes two equally important components: mammography and routine physical examination. Screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality by about 40% in women over age 50, but its role in younger women remains controversial. In roughly 40% of patients, the mammogram will be the only screening modality that detects a cancer. Mammography only detects about 90% of cancers; it misses 10%. Therefore, a suspicious region detected during a physical examination should never be ignored, even if the mammogram is interpreted as normal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta 30912, USA.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Markle
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Massman
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000592:standards*; D008403:Mass Screening; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic