Mammography is suitable for breast cancer screening for women over 50 years old

Molybdenum target examination is widely used in clinical practice for the screening and diagnosis of breast diseases such as breast cancer. Its essence is X-ray imaging of the breast, and its principle is the same as that of chest X-ray examination (chest X-ray) used to examine lung lesions.

The special thing about the breast is that it is a soft tissue with similar density of skin, glands and fat. The use of low-energy rays produced by metallic molybdenum for mammography can significantly improve the resolution of subtle density differences of soft tissues, and obtain good breast images, clearly showing the breast glands, ducts, fibrous septa, skin, subcutaneous tissue, vascular structure, pathological lumps, subtle calcifications, etc. This examination method, called "molybdenum target", quickly gained clinical recognition.

Women over 50 should have bilateral breast X-rays every 1 to 2 years. Women with high risk factors for breast cancer, such as family history of breast cancer, previous history of breast cancer, benign tumors and biopsy history, or menarche before the age of 13, first full-term birth after the age of 30, etc., are recommended to start annual breast X-rays at the age of 40 to 49.

Relatively speaking, the breast glands of most young women are denser, which will lead to a decrease in the resolution of the mammography target. In addition, the glandular tissue of young women is more sensitive to radiation, so mammography is not recommended as a routine examination for women under 40 years old.