One of the scariest things a woman can hear is that her mammogram shows a suspicious mass in her breast. That news can shake a woman’s sense of well-being even after further testing fails to find breast cancer.

It’s important to remember that a mammogram is a screening test. A screening test is done to look for disease in someone who doesn’t have any symptoms.

At their best, screening mammograms can find breast cancer early. But an abnormal result by itself does not mean cancer. It just means that follow-up testing is needed. In many cases, the abnormal mammogram turns out to be a false alarm. Continue reading →