Breast Imaging – A Gift of Life for Women
Breast cancer is the second most common type of malignancy in women. Prevention and early diagnosis play a crucial role in its treatment and are ensured through regular imaging tests that can prove life-saving.
Digital mammography remains the method of choice for assessing breast lesions, whether benign or malignant. It allows the identification of breast lesions when they are in their initial stage and have not yet acquired clinical signs. At this stage, most lesions prove to be curable.
Women who have a specific clinical symptom or women for preventive screening come to our unit.
The glandular tissue of the breast must be compressed in order to increase the likelihood of identifying lesions hidden within it.
By compressing the breast, we achieve low doses of ionizing radiation. The compression may cause mild discomfort in some women. However, it lasts a few seconds and the degree of compression is determined according to the tolerance and sensitivity of each woman.
In some cases, 3D tomosynthesis or additional localization and magnification scans may be required to arrive at the correct diagnosis. These are applications of digital mammography of a clarifying nature.
The international scientific recommendation is that women aged 40 and over should be screened with preventive digital mammography annually. The recommendation changes if there is a positive family history.
Digital mammography takes approximately 15 to 30 minutes and the patient receives the diagnosis report at the end of the examination.
Breast ultrasound is performed using high-frequency ultrasound. In women with high breast density, ultrasound is used as a supplement after digital mammography, and is a basic tool in women under 35 years of age and in pregnant women.
The total duration of the examination rarely exceeds 30 minutes.
Targeted ultrasound on a mammography finding, breast magnetic resonance imaging (2nd look ultrasound) or on a palpable finding is of particularly high diagnostic value.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast is a high-resolution complementary examination that can be performed when:
- there is a suspicion of a larger extent of a breast lesion compared to the initial diagnosis,
- preventively in women belonging to a high-risk group (risk of developing breast cancer >20%)
- women who have undergone mediastinal radiation between the ages of 10 and 30,
- we want to determine whether there is a rupture of a silicone breast implant.
For all the above breast imaging examinations, decisions are made by a select group of specialized radiologists breast.
When a suspicious lesion is diagnosed, its histological identification follows – often on the same day – by biopsy or fine needle aspiration to obtain a sample of material. The material we receive is sent for diagnosis to our pathologists and cytologists, also specialized in the diagnostic approach to breast pathology. The reports are delivered to the patients within 3-5 working days.
After the histological type of the lesion has been determined, they are referred to the appropriate therapeutic team of breast surgeons, oncologists and radiation therapists – with impressive training, of European reputation – who will determine the patient’s therapeutic approach.
At the Breast Unit of the Athens Medical Center, we have paramedical staff – technologists and nurses – and administrative staff, specially trained to sensitively and understandingly support the psychology of the women being examined.
The equipment available in our unit is in accordance with the highest scientific requirements internationally.
