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Each year about 240,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed (one every 2.5 minutes). Sadly, 40,000 women die from breast cancer each year (one death every 13 minutes).  Screening tests such as mammograms are the first weapon against breast cancer. Mammograms are all about early cancer detection. The earlier you catch the cancer, the earlier the patient can be treated and the more likely there will be a successful outcome. Providing our patients with the latest technology is the best thing we can do for them.

One of the most common questions asked by my patients is about contrast. Contrast is used in radiology to outline body parts to provide greater detail to detect disease. Generally, there are two types of contrast--oral contrast and intravenous contrast. Oral contrast is ingested by the patient. Intravenous contrast is injected into the patient’s veins. Both are of great value in making diagnoses. Here are some of the more common questions asked about contrast:

Mostly this is due to the recent report released by the United States Preventive Service Task Force which, amongst other things, recommended biennal screening mammography beginning at age 50 instead of age 40 and discouraged applying breast self-exams. Immediately, these recommendations were challenged by The American Cancer Society, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the American College of Radiology, the American Society of Breast Disease, and the Susan B. Komen Foundation, just to name a few.

I recently learned of an interesting statistic. A survey was conducted in Miami, Florida and Burlington, Vermont where random people were asked what it is that radiologist does. Greater than 40% of people didn’t know radiologists are doctors. Hearing this, I was reminded of a story. My friend in residency told me when he first decided to go into radiology, his father thought he was leaving medicine and wanted to fix radios. Although this may seem silly to some people, not everybody may know about the medical specialty of radiology.