New Breast Cushion Makes Mammography More Comfortable

Many women find having a mammogram painful. It’s one of the top reasons they avoid them.

But women who undergo routine mammograms at Heritage Medical Center (HMC) in Shelbyville, TN now have the latest diagnostic technology available to them: digital mammography. The process comes with a “Mammopad,” a foam pad between a woman’s breast and the mammography machine, from Hologic. 

HMC uses Selenia digital mammography together with the breast cushion, for more comfortable – and accurate – breast cancer detection. With digital mammography, radiologists can magnify the images of the breast, “increase or decrease the contrast and invert the black and white values while reading the images,” according to a statement, allowing radiologists to evaluate microcalcifications and focus on areas of concern.

My own breast cancer was detected on a digital mammogram, showing up as a microcalcification, which appears like a speck of baby powder. Since they are so tiny – but 20 percent of the time, cancerous – radiologists must look very carefully at the image.

Digital mammography allows them to see these tiny marks up close on the X-ray.

I was fortunate. My cancer was non-invasive, unlike most women who are diagnosed with the disease. According to the American Cancer Society (ACA), 1,780 cases of what’s called ductal carcinoma in situ (malignancy remaining in the milk duct) were found in 2011, while 11,330 invasive cancers – those that had spread outside the milk duct – were diagnosed.

Over 1,100 women died.

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes. Next to skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common malignancy found in women, and accounts for one in three of the cancers found in women, the ACA reported.

Though there’s been some discussion about how often a woman needs to have a mammogram, the ACA advises women to have an annual mammogram beginning at age 40, while women at higher risk (family history, delayed childbirth) may require other screening as well, including ultrasound and MRI.