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Breast Self-Exam Checklist |
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Be familiar with normal appearance of your breasts.
Look for swelling, puckering, dimpling, redness, and nipple discharge.
Feel for unusual lumps, soreness, change from normal consistency.
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Imaging/X-Rays
Mammography
A screening mammogram is a limited set of x-ray pictures used to detect a lesion that is too small for the physician to find on the clinical breast exam. Several views of the breast are done when a lesion or lump is being investigated. This is called diagnostic mammography. Some of these photographs are "cone views," which magnify suspicious areas to make them easier to examine. Based on the mammography, your doctor may recommend further imaging.
Ultrasound
Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to create an image of breast tissue. It is often used along with mammography to tell between a solid tumor and a benign cyst.
Magnetic Resonance (MRI)
Magnetic resonance imaging uses magnetic fields and radio waves to show the inside of the breast. It may be done after a mammography to gather more information about a suspicious area. Typically, MRI is not used for to screen for breast cancer because it can create needless alarm with findings that are not cancer.
More on Breast Cancer Mammogram Test
Are Mammograms Getting Better?
Mammogram Readings Need to Be Seen in Perspective
Detecting Breast Lumps
In the Encyclopedia: Breast reconstruction
Breast self-examination
Breast ultrasound
Breast cancer
Lumpectomy
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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