Mammography: a history of success and scientific enthusiasm

In 1913, Albert Salomon, a German surgeon, published his monograph about the utility of radiological studies of mastectomy specimens, demonstrating the possibility of correlating radiological, macro and microscopic anatomy of breast diseases with differentiation between benign and malignant entities. Major works followed that of A.Salomon, namely, Kleinschmidt, Warren, Vogel, Seabold, Gerson-Cohen, Leborgne, Egan, Gallagher, Martin, Dodd, Strax, and colleagues. The intriguing study developed by the renowned pathologist Helen Ingleby, in 1950, included the assessment of the breast and its variations according to the patients’ age and menstrual status, besides a radiological, microand macroscopic correlation with a technique of cross-sectional histological sections of the breast. In 1949, Raul Leborgne revitalized the interest in mammography calling the attention over the need for technical qualification for patients positioning and over radiological parameters to be adopted. He was a pioneer in the enhancement of imaging quality, besides putting special emphasis on the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant calcifications. Special films developed by Kodak, and the high miliamperage with low kilovoltage technique standardized by Robert Egan have led to a new level of technical qualification. In 1962, this author reports the first 53 cases of occult breast cancer detected at 2,000 mammograms. At that same time, John Martin and colleagues demonstrated that excellent mammographic studies could be performed and standardized in private clinics. Concomitantly, the American College of Radiology (ACR) established committees and centers for training at countrywide level. This was the embryo for the ACR Mammography Committee.