why do mammograms require the breasts to be squished flat when we are able to take X-rays and ultrasounds through fat and muscle masses?

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I’ve never had a mammogram so I actually don’t know how it works. Only heard the jokes about how they squish your breasts and that it hurts. We were talking about how men can have breast cancer so why don’t they get mammograms? (Maybe they do). Then we laughed as we pretended to slip a tiny man boob into an imaginary mammogram machine (that I’ve never seen).

So I thought they can do X-rays and stuff. Why do they *have* to torture you to get the results. Did some sick doctor invent the machine, laughing the whole time about how evil and unnecessary it is? /s

Biology tag? Idk.

In: Biology

17 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

In addition to what everyone else has said about uniform thickness, the compression also helps spread out the tissue and separate it from the body. An mammogram is a 2d image of a 3d structure. Compressing the breast helps with tissue being superimposed. Mammograms also include tissue from the armpit area where some lymph nodes are. By pulling that tissue away from the body and holding it in place, it’s able to be imaged. Compression also helps with motion. It’s very important to have no motion which can blur the radiographs. A slight movement could ruin the image, requiring a retake and thus basically doubling the dose.

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