The Mammo Minute: What if You Get a Callback after a Screening Mammogram?
Getting a call back after a screening mammogram can be nerve-wracking, but don’t panic—it doesn’t necessarily mean you have breast cancer! In this episode of The Mammo Minute, Dr. Arthy Saravanan explains why you might be called back for additional imaging.
Hi. My name is Dr. Arthy Saravanan. and I’m the Chief of the Breast Imaging Section at Austin Radiological Association. Welcome to “The Mammo Minute.”
Today’s topic is going to be “What if I get a call back after a screening mammogram?”
It can be nerve-wracking to get a call to come back for more imaging after your screening mammogram, but it doesn’t mean you have breast cancer.
In fact, 1 in 10 people are called back for more testing, and most callbacks do not lead to a cancer diagnosis.
Also, getting called back after a first mammogram is more common because there are no previous images to compare the mammogram to.
So, why might you be called back? Radiologists like myself, who are physicians with advanced study in imaging and diagnostics, will want to get further images if we see something suspicious.
This includes calcifications, which are tiny bits of calcium in the breast that can signify injury, normal aging or cancer, and masses which could be benign or cancerous.
Other things we look for are asymmetries, which are white areas in the mammogram that look different from normal breast tissue, and areas where the breast tissue looks distorted or different from the other breast.
So let’s put it into numbers.
If 100 women get a screening mammogram, ten will be called back for additional imaging. Of those ten, six will be told that their mammograms are normal. Two will be asked to return in six months for a follow-up exam, and two will be recommended to have a needle biopsy. Of those two that are recommended to have a biopsy, only about 22%, or 1 in 5, are diagnosed with breast cancer.
That makes your chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer after a screening mammogram very small, only about 0.5%. And, if you are diagnosed, be aware that breast cancer diagnosed in its early stages, has a greater than 98% survival rate. So, while you may be worried if you need to return for more imaging, keep these thoughts in mind and know that most breast changes are not cancerous.
Talk to your friends, family, or other women who have had these experiences and be proud that you’re taking care of yourself! That’s all for today’s “Mammo Minute.” See you on the next one!