Digital Mammograms are highly detailed images taken to visualise the tissue inside the breast, allowing radiologists to see the difference between normal breast tissue and changes to the normal tissue.

Tomosynthesis Mammography is a special method of imaging the breasts that allows us to produce a set of pictures similar to a CT or MRI, creating “sliced” images through the breast. This procedure gives more information about the breast tissue, and is particularly good for young women, as well as patients with very dense breast tissue that can be difficult to see on normal mammogram images.

Diagnostic Mammograms are a sensitive and reliable test to follow up on changes or concerns patients and their doctors have about the breasts, but are also an effective screening tool for women without symptoms that are over age 40. Screening Mammography (performing a Mammogram for a person without symptoms or family history of breast cancer) is not covered by Medicare and cannot be bulk billed at our practice; please discuss this with your doctor before calling our reception staff for a booking.

It is necessary to book an appointment for Mammograms, and most Mammograms will also be requested with a breast ultrasound. Please carefully read your doctor’s referral when booking, and if you have any difficulties, our reception staff will be more than happy to help.

On the day of your Mammogram, please do not wear any deodorant, lotion, or talcum powder as this will show on your images and can give an incorrect diagnosis.

Please remember to bring your referral, Medicare card, and any previous mammograms or ultrasounds. Your films will be returned to you when your report is completed.

About 15 minutes.

The Mammographer (female radiographer with specialised training) will ask you a few questions relevant to your breast health before asking you to undress from the waist up. Normally you will have a minimum two pictures of each breast taken using compression to keep the breast still during the exposure and reduce the chance of blurry pictures. When the Mammographer lowers the compression plate into place, the top of the machine will travel across the plate, taking approximately 5–7 seconds to create the 3D Tomosynthesis images before the compression releases again. If you are having discomfort or pain, please discuss this with the Mammographer before she begins your exam.

If you have breast implants in place, it may be necessary to take more than the four normal pictures to allow the doctors to see all the breast tissue around the implant. This can take extra time, so please notify the reception staff when booking your appointment. The Mammographer will ask you questions about your implants and give you more information about performing Mammograms on breast implants and the potential risk of rupture before going ahead with your exam.

The Mammographer will leave the room to review your images with a radiologist who is trained in breast imaging. Sometimes the radiologist will require further images to look more clearly at the breast tissue, and the Mammographer will take these pictures before you proceed to your breast ultrasound.

Mammograms use a small amount of X-Rays, which contain ionising radiation, in a controlled environment by a trained professional. Your doctor has referred you for this exam because they believe the low-risk exam (less than 1 in 25,000 risk of causing breast cancer, and additional cancer risk of 1 in 100,000)  is far outweighed by the benefit of diagnosing any potential disease in the breasts. The risk is no greater than developing cancer from exposure to natural background radiation found in the environment in one year.

Not all Mammograms (including digital Tomosynthesis) can detect a breast cancer, so it is important to follow up with other diagnostic imaging such as breast ultrasound or biopsy if there is still concern.

It is important that you make an appointment to return to your doctor after you have collected your examination result. Whether they are normal or abnormal, your doctor needs to correlate with other information for further management.

Your result will include a copy of the images from your study as well as a report from our radiologist.

Depending on your referrer’s preference(s), a copy of the report can also be sent to your referring doctor by fax or electronic download.
Digital copies of all studies are stored on our secured database for comparison with any future examinations.