ENHANCED BREAST SCREENING
WOMEN’S HEALTH
02. During our appointment
A female radiographer who specialises in mammography will ask you about any breast problems or concerns, explain the procedure, and will be available for you to ask any questions. The mammographer will always be happy to discuss breast awareness in more detail should you wish for any further information.
Your breast screening visit should take about half an hour from start to finish.
When at the appointment, you’ll be asked to undress from the waist up and remove any neck jewellery.
The mammographer will place 1 breast at a time between 2 special plates on the mammogram machine. She will then take 2 or more images of each breast. Your breast needs to be pressed gently but firmly between the plates for a few seconds while the images are captured. The pressure is firm to help keep you still and get clear images; this also reduces the amount of radiation the breast receives. To produce these mammography images, a low dose of radiation is required, which is less than a standard chest X-ray. With the latest advances in technology, the average total radiation dose for a digital mammogram with 2 views of each breast is about 0.36 millsieverts, or mSv (a mSv is a measure of radiation dose). We are normally exposed to 3mSv of radiation each year just from our normal, natural surroundings. Occasionally, the mammographer may reposition you for an additional image, but this is no cause for anxiety. It’s usually just to get a clearer picture: maybe there was a fold of skin in the way, or not enough of your pectoral muscle in the image.
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