Any woman aged 40 and up, or with a family history of breast cancer knows the drill - you get a mammogram once a year and it's not a lot of fun.
But one in every 20 women in Singapore will develop breast cancer during her lifetime and mammography is the best method for detecting it in its early stages.
Now, Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is set to make this less of an ordeal by adding two computer-based advances to its diagnostic centre for women: digital mammography and computer-aided detection.
The centre also offers film mammography, which still remains the gold standard, detecting around 85 to 90 per cent of breast cancers in women over 50 years of age.
But for younger women who tend to have dense breasts - which have a lot of gland tissue compared with fat - digital mammography offers a better shot at early detection.
Tumours in dense breasts don't show up as well on film as they do on digital mammograms, with their higher resolution and clearer contrasts.
According to Dr Sim Shao-Jen Llewellyn, senior consultant at the department of diagnostic radiology, SGH, one of the major advantages of digital mammography is the clarity of the image.
It is quicker to take than film mammography and the image is immediately available for diagnosis.
It also requires less compression of the breasts, and is hence less painful than film mammography.
The centre also offers computer-aided detection, which acts like a spell checker, helping radiologists zero in on areas that may need further examination or biopsy.
Digital mammography saved the life of one 37-year-old woman, who had her first film mammogram at age 35. She was told that she had dense breasts, which made the reading difficult.
Two years later, she decided to have a digital mammogram at SGH. Dr Sim said that the test picked up microcalcifications - extremely small clusters of deposits in her breast. With the digital tools, Dr Sim was able to zoom in on the deposits, which looked suspicious.
A biopsy showed it to be an invasive form of breast cancer. The early diagnosis guaranteed her a 100 per cent chance of cure and recovery.
Dr Tan Bien Soo, who heads the diagnostic radiology department at SGH, said the new digital mammography unit can also be used to do biopsies of breast tissue. A biopsy is the term for when suspicious tissue is taken out and examined carefully to see if it is cancer.
This three-in-one capability means that if the mammography does show up something suspicious, a woman can decide to have a biopsy the same day, at the same place.
There is no difference in costs between the digital mammography and film mammography at SGH. Both cost $116.
Interested?: Women aged 35 and above, who have no breast lumps, are not pregnant and have not had a mammogram in the last year can call 6321-4225 to book an appointment at SGH.
Digital mammography is also available at The Breast Centre at KK Women's and Children's Hospital and the Mount Elizabeth Hospital
