Limitations of Mammograms

As with any medical test, mammograms can have limits. These limits include:

• Mammograms are only part of a complete breast exam. If they show abnormalities your health care provider will follow-up with other tests.

• False negatives can happen. This means everything may look normal, but cancer is actually present. False negatives don't happen often. Younger women are more likely to have a false negative mammogram than are older women. This is because the breast tissue is denser, making cancer harder to spot.

• False positives can happen. This is when the mammogram results look like cancer is present, even though it is not. False positives are more common in younger women than older women.