A mammogram is a type of X-ray that shows an imaging of your breasts. It can be used for diagnostic purposes, such as looking into symptoms or odd findings on another imaging test, or for breast cancer screening.
Your breasts are pushed between two solid surfaces during a mammography in order to spread out the breast tissue. Then, a black-and-white image captured by an X-ray is presented on a computer screen and checked for indications of malignancy.
Mammograms are essential for the early detection of breast cancer. They are able to identify breast cancer before symptoms and indicators appear. It has been demonstrated that mammograms lower the chance of breast cancer death.
Two-dimensional pictures of the breast are produced by a conventional mammography. A 3D mammography (breast tomosynthesis), a more recent type of mammogram, produces three-dimensional images of the breast. In addition to the conventional 2D mammography used for breast cancer screening, several medical facilities also provide 3D mammograms.