Mammography as a diagnostic procedure requires additional views above and beyond the routine CC and MLO in order to demonstrate or rule out pathology. Although it is not required but recommended a diagnostic mammogram is typically done with an interpreting physician onsite to monitor the examination as the technologist performs it. However if in a region without an onsite radiologist the technologist must be able to perform diagnostic and supplemental views to demonstrate an abnormality so the radiologist can make a diagnosis and understand which of these views will give the physician the information. Supplemental views are also used for difficult routine mammography when it is not possible to properly image the patient in the two routine views due to body habitus. There are a number of diagnostic and supplemental views used in mammography to reduce superimposition, help the radiologist characterize calcifications and visualize an abnormality in two planes. This lesson discusses these views, how to perform them and their value in breast cancer detection.
Part II of this lesson also includes how to position the non-conforming patient and imaging the male breast.