Why have mammograms?
Extensive research over decades has proven that mammograms save lives. Annual mammograms allow us to detect breast cancers at the earliest possible stage.
Cancer on mammogram: Small cancer – irregular white spot with spiky margins
Annual mammograms allow us to detect breast cancers at the earliest possible stage. Unfortunately, some aggressive cancers can exponentially enlarge in even a year which is why we need to do the test every year. In the old days, many breast cancers were only diagnosed when a patient presented with a large tumour which had already metastasized throughout her body. Most of these patients died within months to a year. These days, the majority of breast cancers are found when they are less than 2cm in size. (largely due to mammograms and ultrasound.) The prognosis for those patients is 90% survival at 5 years.
Interval Cancer ie grown within 10 months!
Cancer developed in 22 months
