Radiographic examination of the breast.

Tumors or cancer of the human BREAST.

Organized periodic procedures performed on large groups of people for the purpose of detecting disease.

Methods to identify and characterize cancer in the early stages of disease and predict tumor behavior.

A film base coated with an emulsion designed for use with x-rays.

In humans, one of the paired regions in the anterior portion of the THORAX. The breasts consist of the MAMMARY GLANDS, the SKIN, the MUSCLES, the ADIPOSE TISSUE, and the CONNECTIVE TISSUES.

The inspection of one's breasts, usually for signs of disease, especially neoplastic disease.

A specialty concerned with the use of x-ray and other forms of radiant energy in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Computer systems or networks designed to provide radiographic interpretive information.

Pathological processes of the BREAST.

Application of fingers with light pressure to the surface of the body to determine consistence of parts beneath in physical diagnosis; includes palpation for determining the outlines of organs.

Positive test results in subjects who do not possess the attribute for which the test is conducted. The labeling of healthy persons as diseased when screening in the detection of disease. (Last, A Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

Binary classification measures to assess test results. Sensitivity or recall rate is the proportion of true positives. Specificity is the probability of correctly determining the absence of a condition. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

The seeking and acceptance by patients of health service.

A noninvasive (noninfiltrating) carcinoma of the breast characterized by a proliferation of malignant epithelial cells confined to the mammary ducts or lobules, without light-microscopy evidence of invasion through the basement membrane into the surrounding stroma.

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).

Voluntary cooperation of the patient in following a prescribed regimen.

Screens which absorb the energy in the x-ray beam that has penetrated the patient and convert this energy into a light pattern which has as nearly as possible the same information as the original x-ray beam. The more light a screen produces for a given input of x-radiation, the less x-ray exposure and thus shorter exposure time are needed to expose the film. In most film-screen systems, the film is sandwiched between two screens in a cassette so that the emulsion on each side is exposed to the light from its contiguous screen.

Movable or portable facilities in which diagnostic and therapeutic services are provided to the community.

The concept covering the physical and mental conditions of women.

The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others.

An invasive (infiltrating) CARCINOMA of the mammary ductal system (MAMMARY GLANDS) in the human BREAST.

Public attitudes toward health, disease, and the medical care system.

Systems used to prompt or aid the memory. The systems can be computerized reminders, color coding, telephone calls, or devices such as letters and postcards.

The statistical reproducibility of measurements (often in a clinical context), including the testing of instrumentation or techniques to obtain reproducible results. The concept includes reproducibility of physiological measurements, which may be used to develop rules to assess probability or prognosis, or response to a stimulus; reproducibility of occurrence of a condition; and reproducibility of experimental results.

Statistical models which describe the relationship between a qualitative dependent variable (that is, one which can take only certain discrete values, such as the presence or absence of a disease) and an independent variable. A common application is in epidemiology for estimating an individual's risk (probability of a disease) as a function of a given risk factor.

Devices or objects in various imaging techniques used to visualize or enhance visualization by simulating conditions encountered in the procedure. Phantoms are used very often in procedures employing or measuring x-irradiation or radioactive material to evaluate performance. Phantoms often have properties similar to human tissue. Water demonstrates absorbing properties similar to normal tissue, hence water-filled phantoms are used to map radiation levels. Phantoms are used also as teaching aids to simulate real conditions with x-ray or ultrasonic machines. (From Iturralde, Dictionary and Handbook of Nuclear Medicine and Clinical Imaging, 1990)

Behaviors expressed by individuals to protect, maintain or promote their health status. For example, proper diet, and appropriate exercise are activities perceived to influence health status. Life style is closely associated with health behavior and factors influencing life style are socioeconomic, educational, and cultural.

Systematic and thorough inspection of the patient for physical signs of disease or abnormality.

Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.

The amount of radiation energy that is deposited in a unit mass of material, such as tissues of plants or animal. In RADIOTHERAPY, radiation dosage is expressed in gray units (Gy). In RADIOLOGIC HEALTH, the dosage is expressed by the product of absorbed dose (Gy) and quality factor (a function of linear energy transfer), and is called radiation dose equivalent in sievert units (Sv).

Pathologic deposition of calcium salts in tissues.

The failure by the observer to measure or identify a phenomenon accurately, which results in an error. Sources for this may be due to the observer's missing an abnormality, or to faulty technique resulting in incorrect test measurement, or to misinterpretation of the data. Two varieties are inter-observer variation (the amount observers vary from one another when reporting on the same material) and intra-observer variation (the amount one observer varies between observations when reporting more than once on the same material).

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XVIII-Health Insurance for the Aged, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, that provides health insurance benefits to persons over the age of 65 and others eligible for Social Security benefits. It consists of two separate but coordinated programs: hospital insurance (MEDICARE PART A) and supplementary medical insurance (MEDICARE PART B). (Hospital Administration Terminology, AHA, 2d ed and A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, US House of Representatives, 1976)

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

The application of scientific knowledge or technology to the field of radiology. The applications center mostly around x-ray or radioisotopes for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes but the technological applications of any radiation or radiologic procedure is within the scope of radiologic technology.

Cytological preparation of cells collected from a mucosal surface and stained with Papanicolaou stain.

Human females as cultural, psychological, sociological, political, and economic entities.

Persons living in the United States having origins in any of the black groups of Africa.

Removal and pathologic examination of specimens in the form of small pieces of tissue from the living body.

Collection of pooled secretions of the posterior vaginal fornix for cytologic examination.

A lesion with cytological characteristics associated with invasive carcinoma but the tumor cells are confined to the epithelium of origin, without invasion of the basement membrane.

Services designed for HEALTH PROMOTION and prevention of disease.

Contracts between an insurer and a subscriber or a group of subscribers whereby a specified set of health benefits is provided in return for a periodic premium.

A graphic means for assessing the ability of a screening test to discriminate between healthy and diseased persons; may also be used in other studies, e.g., distinguishing stimuli responses as to a faint stimuli or nonstimuli.

Statistical measures of utilization and other aspects of the provision of health care services including hospitalization and ambulatory care.

In screening and diagnostic tests, the probability that a person with a positive test is a true positive (i.e., has the disease), is referred to as the predictive value of a positive test; whereas, the predictive value of a negative test is the probability that the person with a negative test does not have the disease. Predictive value is related to the sensitivity and specificity of the test.

Organized services to provide health care to women. It excludes maternal care services for which MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES is available.

The conic organs which usually give outlet to milk from the mammary glands.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

Non-invasive method of demonstrating internal anatomy based on the principle that atomic nuclei in a strong magnetic field absorb pulses of radiofrequency energy and emit them as radiowaves which can be reconstructed into computerized images. The concept includes proton spin tomographic techniques.

Removal and examination of tissue obtained through a transdermal needle inserted into the specific region, organ, or tissue being analyzed.

The number of new cases of a given disease during a given period in a specified population. It also is used for the rate at which new events occur in a defined population. It is differentiated from PREVALENCE, which refers to all cases, new or old, in the population at a given time.

The systems and processes involved in the establishment, support, management, and operation of registers, e.g., disease registers.

A infiltrating (invasive) breast cancer, relatively uncommon, accounting for only 5%-10% of breast tumors in most series. It is often an area of ill-defined thickening in the breast, in contrast to the dominant lump characteristic of ductal carcinoma. It is typically composed of small cells in a linear arrangement with a tendency to grow around ducts and lobules. There is likelihood of axillary nodal involvement with metastasis to meningeal and serosal surfaces. (DeVita Jr et al., Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology, 3d ed, p1205)

Electronic instruments that produce photographs or cathode-ray tube images of the gamma-ray emissions from organs containing radionuclide tracers.

Persons living in the United States of Mexican (MEXICAN AMERICANS), Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin. The concept does not include Brazilian Americans or Portuguese Americans.

A method of comparing the cost of a program with its expected benefits in dollars (or other currency). The benefit-to-cost ratio is a measure of total return expected per unit of money spent. This analysis generally excludes consideration of factors that are not measured ultimately in economic terms. Cost effectiveness compares alternative ways to achieve a specific set of results.

Imaging methods that result in sharp images of objects located on a chosen plane and blurred images located above or below the plane.

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.