Complete Breast Assessment

Your doctor may select complete breast assessment on Mayfair’s general requisition. This procedure starts with a screening mammography exam – a type of X-ray that provides detailed images (mammograms) of the internal structure of your breast tissue. A mammogram can reveal changes that are too small for you or your doctor to feel.

Once the screening mammography is complete, our Volpara software will determine your breast density score and your technologist will decide if an ultrasound is appropriate.

A diagnostic breast ultrasound or an automated breast ultrasound may be booked as a supplement to a screening mammography for patients with extremely dense breast tissue (Volpara D score) or heterogeneously dense breast tissue (Volpara C) combined with additional risk factors for breast malignancy (e.g., first-degree relative diagnosed with breast cancer).

Dense breast tissue is a clinical diagnosis that can only be assessed by mammography. Dense breasts have less fat and more glandular and connective tissue, which make a mammogram harder to read so smaller cancers may be hidden. Very dense breast tissue can also increase breast cancer risk. For more information about breast density, read our article What are Dense Breasts?

Please note: When booking your initial appointment, we will check previous reports for your Volpara score. If one is not available, you will be booked for a screening mammography only and it will be determined whether an ultrasound is necessary. We will do our best to schedule this on the same day, but you may have to return another day for an ultrasound.

For more information on how to prepare and what happens during each exam, please click the links above.

FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT

Please ensure that you bring your requisition with you to your appointment.

DURATION

15-30 min. (Mammogram)
plus 15 min. (ABUS)
or 45 min. (handheld breast ultrasound)

LOCATION

Beacon Heights

Castleridge

Cochrane

Coventry Hills

Crowfoot

Mahogany Village

Market Mall

Mayfair Place

Southcentre

Sunpark

The CORE

Westbrook

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Does an ultrasound replace a mammography exam?

Mammography is the gold standard for breast imaging, Ultrasound is meant to compliment it, not replace it.

How do I determine my breast density?

To determine your breast density, you will need to discuss scheduling a mammogram and a review of the results with your health care provider. Each person who has a mammogram at Mayfair will receive a Volpara score. Volpara is a program that provides a volumetric assessment of breast density and assigns each person a Volpara score – A (almost entirely fatty) to D (almost entirely dense).

What does it mean if I have dense breast tissue?

Both dense tissue and breast cancer appear white on a mammogram. Women with a Volpara D score have very dense breast tissue, which makes it harder to detect suspicious looking areas, as they appear similar to the dense tissue. During a mammogram the technologist uses compression to help spread out dense breast tissue and make any hidden cancer more apparent. If a radiologist looks at the images and reports no new areas of concern, your doctor may request a diagnostic breast ultrasound or automated breast ultrasound to supplement your mammogram (a second look, or second check, of the breasts). Mammography is still the gold standard for breast imaging, but, in cases of very dense breast tissue, a second look may be needed.