Mammogram vs. Breast Ultrasound: How Do They Differ?

Ultrasounds send harmless acoustic, or sound, waves into the body. The way they bounce back gives us a picture of what’s going on inside you. As a result, ultrasounds are useful for a wide range of screening and diagnoses. 

Because our Cullman Internal Medicine team offers such a wide array of ultrasound screening and testing, you might wonder why we don’t extend that to your breasts, too. The reason is simple: A mammogram is the gold standard in breast cancer screening and for good reason. 

Our team of providers offers mammograms right here at our office to help you best defend against this type of cancer.

What mammograms can do that ultrasounds can’t

An ultrasound allows your provider to get a look at what’s going on inside your breast. It has its limitations, though. Primarily, it doesn’t offer a complete image of your whole breast, and it misses your axillary lymph nodes, which are located in your armpit. 

If you have large breasts, the ultrasound might not be able to clearly show what’s going on in the deeper layers of your tissue either. 

Additionally, ultrasound imaging doesn’t show microcalcifications. These tiny calcium deposits are usually benign (noncancerous), but they do have a link to breast cancer and can be an early sign of it, so it’s worth monitoring them. 

That’s where mammograms come in. With this type of screening, your provider uses X-ray imaging to get a clear picture of your entire breast. They can check your axillary lymph nodes and look for calcification. 

Because it’s so effective at spotting breast cancer, both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Cancer Society recommend that women over the age of 40 get a mammogram once or twice a year. 

What to expect at your mammogram

When you visit our team for a mammogram, we give you a gown to change into that opens at the front. 

When it’s time for your mammogram, you stand in front of the machine and put one breast at a time on a specialized X-ray plate. Your provider helps you best position that breast, then gently compresses it with a second plate lowered on top. We then quickly take pictures with the X-ray machine from multiple angles. Then, we repeat the process for your other breast. 

Most women agree that mammograms aren’t overly comfortable. Yours shouldn’t be painful, though. Talk with your provider so they can help adjust your positioning to make your experience as pleasant as possible. 

Once we have the results of your mammogram, we review them with you and let you know if any next steps are required. If they are, they usually entail further testing — maybe even with an ultrasound, which can spot the difference between cysts and solid masses. 

Although breast ultrasounds have their place, mammograms are the gold standard in breast cancer screening. To schedule yours, call our office or book an appointment online today.