What Is the Specificity of Mammograms?

The mammogram is used to detect breast cancer

The mammogram is a special kind of test that utilizes x-rays to detect breast lesions. Most commonly mammograms are designed to detect early stages of breast cancer by detecting calcifications or organic masses. It is typically offered to female patients beginning at the age of 40 as a screening test. Its results are not 100 percent accurate.

Specificity

Specificity is a statistical term. In essence it measures the proportion of healthy persons who are correctly labeled as not having the disease in question. Thus a specific test would have a negative result in a person who is healthy. The ideal specificity for any test would be 100 percent.

Specificity of a Mammogram

According to a study presented at the 2010 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting the specificity of a mammogram was found to be 67 percent. The RSNA is the country's largest radiologic medical society and annually presents cutting edge research and findings. The specificity of 67 percent shows that if you took a 100 healthy people, only 67 percent of them would have a negative result. The rest of them would have a positive result that is false.

Improving Specificity of a Mammogram

The specificity of a mammogram is not very high. As a result the best way to truly detect breast lesions is to combine a mammogram with a clinical breast exam at the time of office visit. Sometimes a mammogram can miss a lesion that is able to be discovered on physical exam.

References

• Breast-Specific Gamma Imaging Is a Useful Adjunct to Other Imaging Techniques: Presented at RSNA
• Breast Cancer Screening

Resources

• Radiological Society of North America