What is Breast Ultrasound and uses of the procedure?

Breast ultrasound is an imaging technique mainly used to screen for tumors and other breast abnormalities. High-frequency waves are used in ultrasound process to produce elaborate images of the inside of the breasts. As x-rays and CT scans use ultra waves but ultrasounds don’t use radiation and are considered to be a safe medical method for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. This procedure requires little to no special preparation.

Doppler techniques are used by a sonographer or by the physician during breast ultrasound test to evaluate the blood flow or lack of flow in any breast mass. Some common uses of this procedure are as under:

·       Determining the nature of a breast abnormality–The primary use of breast ultrasound today is to help diagnose breast abnormalities detected by a physician during a physical exam and to characterize potential abnormalities seen on mammography or breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

·       Supplemental breast cancer screening -Mammography is the only screening tool for breast cancer which is known to decrease deaths caused by breast cancer through early detection. Many studies have shown that ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help extend mammography by detecting breast cancers because in mammography they are not visible at times.

·       Ultrasound-guided breast biopsy - A physician may choose to perform an ultrasound-guided biopsy if the reports of ultrasound examination disclose a suspicious breast abnormality. Because ultrasound provides real-time images, it is often used to guide biopsy procedures.

The images produced by a breast ultrasound don’t mean that you have breast cancer. Most breast lumps are kind. 

Dense breast tissue : What are the causes of dense breast tissue accumulation?

Body mass index: Studies reveal that women having a low body mass index than the advised limit, have a higher chance of facing breast cancer due to dense breast tissues. Clearly, this is due to the absence of body fat.

2.     Hormone therapy: Menopause is an inevitable phase in every women’s life. It denotes the end of the cycle of periods which takes place every month. This causes a lot of hormonal changes into the body of the woman. Hormone therapies can help in this matter but can give rise to dense breast tissues.

3.     Age: A young age gives a good physical appearance to everyone. In case of women, it denotes properly working muscles and strong bones. But the ageing process can be a cause of concern as younger women have denser tissues in comparison to aged women. This phase makes it difficult for catching the early signs of the disease also.

What is the biggest problem?

The aforementioned fact that dense tissues will make analysis difficult is the biggest challenge in front of experts right now. Over the years, multiple tests have failed to detect signs of breast cancer due to dense breast tissues, because it is tough to penetrate the dense tissues are produce the required result for a proper diagnosis. Mammogram has been ineffective multiple times in this case. As it is better for the disease to be caught early and treated effectively, advancements are being made to solve this problem.

How tomosynthesis is different from mammography

Tomosynthesis is considered a more advanced and detailed imaging technique than a mammogram in the following ways:

·       With the benefits of 3-dimensional images, tomosynthesis can look at multiple layers of the breast. This allows this method to fill in the gaps or limitations that traditional mammograms have since a mammogram only captures a 2-D image.

·       It can detect breast cancer before many women ever start to have any symptoms.

·       The 3-D imaging of a tomosynthesis allows your doctor to see small lesions (damage or change in the tissue of an organism) and other signs of breast cancer earlier than a traditional mammogram.

·       Tomosynthesis is more accurate than mammograms and also helps to minimize false positives that mammograms can give.

·       In terms of comfort, tomosynthesis does not require to compress the breast like they would be during traditional mammography.

Some positive aspects of using tomosynthesis

1.     It gives us better results and screening for dense breasts.

2.     Helps in detecting breast cancer at an early stage.

3.     Less suffering since there is no breast compression.

4.     Detection of breast cancer in women with no symptom.

The procedure for a tomosynthesis is very similar to that of a mammogram. Both tomosynthesis and mammogram use the same imaging machine. However, the type of images it takes is different because not all mammogram machines are able to take tomosynthesis images. In the case of the mammogram, two x-rays are taken of each breast. Tomosynthesis is taking multiple images of the breast. Overall, the time duration taken by tomosynthesis procedure is 15 minutes. Mammograms and tomosynthesis exams can be recorded digitally and stored electronically on computers. These x-ray exams are fast and easy which consumes less time and the equipment used in these x-rays are normally less expensive in the market.