By: Community News |April 29, 2019
As a breast surgeon, it is my job to inform patients about the benefits of breast cancer screening and early detection. While most of us know that mammograms help save lives by catching cancer at its earliest stage, many women do not have them done each year due to fears of radiation exposure. I would like to dispel this myth that the radiation exposure from getting an annual mammogram can cause breast cancer.
A mammogram is basically an X-ray of the breast tissue taken in 2 dimensions. In reality, the amount of radiation exposure you receive from a standard mammogram is a fraction of what we are exposed to from just living on this planet each year. According to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, the average annual radiation dose per person in the U.S. is 6.2 millisieverts (mSV). A mSV is a measure of radiation dose. About half of this annual dose comes from exposure to our environment, from natural sources such as minerals in the ground, and the other half from man-made sources such as medical x-rays. To put radiation doses into perspective, below is a list of common means of radiation exposure and how that compares to a mammogram:
● Standard 2 view mammogram=0.4 mSv
● Routine dental X-rays=0.005 mSv
● Cross-county flight across the United States= 0.035 mSv
● Annual radiation exposure from living in Miami, Florida=0.3 mSv
● Annual radiation exposure from living in Denver, Colorado=0.8 mSv
● CT scan of the chest=7 mSv
Read the Full Article Here:
https://communitynewspapers.com/pinecrest/mammograms-the-benefits-far-outweigh-any-possible-harm/