Breast Cancer Screening Tools

  At present, doctors can determine the benignity or malignancy of breast lumps by the following means: (1) physical examination, including visual examination and palpation; (2) mammography; (3) ultrasonography; (4) infrared scan; (5) puncture; (6) biopsy; and (7) others. Each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses in diagnosing breast lumps.  I. Physical examination Physical examination by a doctor is very important to determine the benignity and malignancy of breast lumps. However, the accuracy of the diagnosis otherwise depends on the experience of the doctor. If a doctor has been in contact with this type of disease for a long time, and he is also good at summing up his experience, then after examining the patient, he will have a seven out of ten picture in his mind. If the signs are typical, even without the help of any examination, he can make a definite diagnosis, and even sometimes the examination together is not as accurate as his manual examination. The doctor’s sense of this is often only understandable, difficult to say. But if you find a doctor who is not in the field, sometimes even though he is famous in other areas, then the situation will be very different. So be sure to go through the proper channels to find a doctor who specializes in this type of disease.  Mammography can detect 85% to 90% of breast cancers in patients over 50 years old, and can detect early cancers that are not clinically detected, and can detect microcalcifications. In many cases, it is not possible to make a definite diagnosis, which includes the factor of the level of the doctor who reads the film.  Ultrasonography has outstanding advantages in identifying cystic and solid masses, and can detect cysts of 2mm in diameter, and can assist X-ray examination in dense breast screening, with accurate localization, showing clear levels of the breast, detecting axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes, and predicting benign and malignant lesions through blood flow supply, which is economical, easy, painless, without radiological damage, and more suitable for young women. More suitable for young women.  Infrared scan mainly uses the different absorption rates of infrared rays by different structures of soft tissues in the human body to make diagnosis. It can show the gray scale of the lesion and the related vascular shadow, which is simple, easy to perform and non-invasive. Disadvantages of NIR breast scan: except for inflammation and hematoma, 80% of benign lesions are not visualized; the diagnosis of cancer less than 1cm is not ideal.  Needle aspiration cytology is to insert a fine needle into the lump and extract a small amount of tissue for cytological examination. This is a good and direct examination, which is not only inexpensive, but also the results are often very accurate. Hospitals with conditions can also combine ultrasound and X-ray positioning for puncture, which may reveal early cancer that cannot be felt in the lump.  MRI has been listed as a more advanced diagnostic tool for breast cancer in foreign countries, which has unparalleled advantages over other measures for the stereoscopic localization of early lesions and the determination of the scope of breast-conserving surgery. However, there are only a few MRI machines that can be used for breast cancer diagnosis in China.  SureTouch is based on the different elasticity coefficients of different tissues in the breast. The greater the elasticity coefficient of the tissue, the greater the hardness of the tissue, and the elasticity coefficients are arranged from large to small as invasive cancer > non-invasive cancer > breast fibrosis > breast > fatty tissue.