Clinical Services | Breast Screening
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Is mammogram alone adequate for cancer diagnosis? What is meant by comprehensive breast screening? |
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8% - 10% of breast fact: Cancers cannot be seen on mammogram. E.g. This patient's cancer wat not noted on her mammogram because she had very dense breast tissue (Dense tissue refers to breast tissue that appears white on mammogram). Compare this with another patient whose cancer is more noticeable because of fatty background/breast tissue. |
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Fact: Women in Singapore have dense breast tissue when compared with their
Western counterparts. Knowing that cancers are more likely to be missed in dense breast tissue, is there anything that we can do to improve the rate of early detection? Yes, there is a way to improve early detection that is through the addition of ultrasound and clinical examination. Despite the best efforts, there still would be some misses but these can be minimized by comprehensive breast screening with mammogram, ultrasound and clinical examination. Mammogram and ultrasound increases detection rate to 98%. Clinical examination, together with tissue testing, would be able to detect those not seen on mammogram and ultrasound. |
