A mammogram helps detect breast cancer at an early stage. Mammograms can detect some types of cancer before you or your healthcare provider can feel a lump. They detect most cancerous growths in the breasts.
Mammograms are also used to check lumps you or your healthcare provider have found in a physical exam. They can help determine which lumps are cancerous and which are benign. However, all suspicious lumps should be biopsied or removed, even when the lump appears noncancerous (benign) on a mammogram.
Mammograms can also show a more exact location of a growth before you have surgery or a biopsy to remove it.
