JOHNSTOWN. – An annual mammogram is a common procedure for many women, especially those 40 and older, and that routine test can be life-changing for patients. “A mammogram is the No.
1 best screening (method),” said Dr. Margaret Clark, Indiana Regional Medical Center’s director of women’s imaging. Clark has worked in radiology for about 30 years, painstakingly examining images – now digitally – created by mammography, ultrasounds and magnetic resonance imaging.
Clark said she looks for abnormal calcifications and masses in the tissue on the specialized screens that she uses to study patient results. When she reads a mammogram, she typically has comparative images from the previous year and the most recent results to check for differences between them. She looks at the X-ray pictures as if she were looking at the patient – left and right – and because IRMC uses 3D mammography, also known as tomosynthesis, there are several angles to explore.
Doctors can also scroll through the patient’s on-file history to check a wider range of images for any possible abnormalities. Clark said calcifications typically appear as bright white spots on the black-and-white mammogram, even in dense tissue, which appears as a cloudy area. Masses, benign or malignant, can hide in that dense area and obscure detection, which can make Clark’s job more difficult, she said.
To help with that, there are national standards such as the recently updated Mammography Quality Standards Act.