Molybdenum targeting
Molybdenum targeting, primarily in women over 40 years of age, is the definitive, internationally recognized screening method for breast cancer that reduces breast cancer-related mortality, but is not recommended for asymptomatic women under 40 years of age.
The mammogram can detect cancer before the clinical signs of cancer appear. This is because mammography is more sensitive to microcalcifications in the breast, which are one of the typical imaging signs of breast cancer.
Mammography is most advantageous for the detection of calcifications, identifying more than 95% of microcalcifications, has a high detection rate for large and fatty breasts, and can detect 85-90% of breast cancers over age 50, as well as detecting breast cancers that are negative to clinical palpation. However, mammograms can easily miss small cancer foci close to the chest wall and in dense breasts.
Ultrasound
With the improved performance of ultrasound machines and the use of high-frequency probes, microcalcifications can be visualized with ultrasound technology. However, the echogenicity of the breast gland is very complex, and most of the breast gland tissue is hyperechoic. It is difficult to identify microcalcifications in the breast that are also hyperechoic in the hyperechoic background, and because breast ultrasound is a real-time dynamic scanning method in the cross-section, the scanning process is heavily dependent on the ultrasonographer’s scanning technique and experience.
The results of both examinations should be taken together and it is not easy to say which is better than the other. When there is a conflict between the two, further determination can be made by MRI or biopsy, and also relies on the clinician’s clinical experience in judgment.