Mammography is an X-ray examination of the breast, using special equipment, with the aim of detecting breast cancer as early as possible – at a stage at which it can be treated well, before it is palpable or causes discomfort.
The word ‘screening’ is used in medicine to describe examinations carried out on a large group of people for the early detection of a certain disease in a defined section of the population.
The main differences between an organised large-scale early-detection programme and an individual healthcare examination are that the former provides for: