The Battle Against Cancer is Helped by Mammorgraphy Essay

Cancer is one of the most lethal diseases that greatly contributes to the death toll of millions people around the globe, especially breast cancer. However, as technologies are being modernized, humans took a major step forward in the battle against cancer by inventing mammography. In the past few years, mammograms helped save countless women’s lives, and consequently, it’s currently one of the leading research programs that attracts attention of many scientists. Basically, breast cancer happens when the amount of cells growth exceeds the amount of cells which die. Ultimately, they are out of control and being spread to other parts of the body, including the liver, bones or even the brain. There are many factors which contribute to†¦show more content†¦Fortunately, this is where mammograms help out. A Mammogram is an X-ray of the breast which helps to detect any bumps or lumps that present on women’s breasts, which can be an early sign of breast cancer. Mammograms take an image of all of the breast tissue, which allows a radiologist to detect abnormalities on the mammogram. Such detection doesn’t guarantee to cure the patient if she is in an advanced stage of cancer, but it may help reduce the number of deaths from breast cancer for women ages 40 to 69, especially for those over age 50. There are normally two types of mammograms: digital and conventional (film). Digital mammography stores the image directly into a comp uter whereas conventional (film) mammography produces the image on film. Digital mammography is preferable compared to conventional mammography as health care providers are able to share images globally and patients are exposed to lower doses of radiation. In my opinion, even though mammograms are helping many women, there are a several limitations that need to be addressed. First, radiation exposure is very dangerous. Even though I’m aware that radiologists use minute doses of radiation, it still scares me every time my mom goes for her annual breast exam. Sometimes the radiologist is unable to obtain a image image, so she had to take another one, and those repeated X-rays may result in an increased risk of cancer themselves. Second, it is obvious that mammograms are a detection method, and they