Experts encourage women to reframe having a mammogram as empowering .

You can not prevent breast cancer but mammograms help you take control.

Mammograms find cancers when they are easy to treat and smallest.

What is a mammogram?

Breast cancer is common.

In US one in eight women will develop the disease sometime in her life.

A mammogram is X ray examination of the breast used to detect breast cancer and other breast disease.

Mammograms are performed on people who are having breast problems like lumps or nipple discharge.

How should you ready for a mammogram?

The super preparation for a mammogram is hardest.

Expert say you must be relaxed it will make technician job easy and your mammogram better.

This is because when the pectoralis chest wall muscle is relaxed the technologist can image more of breast tissue optimally making mammogram images visible to radiologist.

Mammograms are best part of women annual health care appointments.

Test is only one section of preventive health for ladies.

What followups may be required?

Research shows that 10% of screening mammograms find something that requires extra evaluation.

Expert says 20 out of 1000 mammograms find something that needs a needle biopsy.

Only 5 of every 1000  mammograms find a cancer.

Mammogram screening started in 1980 the mortality rate from breast cancer has decreased by 40% in US.

Mammograms find cancer when they are small and easy to treat.

A mammogram and follow up test women will need a biopsy and some of those biopsie will result in cancer diagnosis.

Ladies who have breast cancer detected on mammogram instead of waiting needs more treatment like chemotherapy or mastectomy.

Breast MRI and Breast ultrasound are most common supplementary tests to mammograms.

Mammogram is best cancer screening tool that has been shown to save lives over and over again in old instrument.

The result are better now a days.

Women with dense breast sometime need these extra test is because dense breast tissue looks white on mammogram and can hide cancer even on 3D mammogram.

What happen during a mammogram?

You getting undressed and dressed for the test . The mammogram test take less than 10 minutes.

Mammogram test is not painful. Your breast is being held in place and compressed with a clear plastic plate.

The typical mammogram consist of two X ray images of each breast one taken from top and one taken from side.

To perform a mammogram one breast is place on hard surface and plastic paddle hold the breast in place with pressure before lifting up and away from breast.

This repeated on other breast.

The mammogram takes a few minutes to perform the compression is needed to get lowest radiation dose and clear photos last only a few seconds. Health experts says.