Many women who have a mammogram are told they have calcifications, which are deposits of calcium. There are two types, one type macrocalcifications and often not related to cancer.

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"People have trauma, people have accidents. They bang the breast it's amazing how many women have trauma without knowing it and that calcifies very much," said Dr. Ruth Beer

The other type of calcifications, called microcalcifications are specks of calcium that may be found in an area of rapidly dividing cells. When many are seen in a cluster, they may indicate a small cancer. About half the cancers detected appear as these clusters and are often found with a mammography.

"We look at a mammogram and compare to previous years, if we see we new calcifications, we do biopsy. You look to see how they look, so if you leave them for a period of time they will become more and more obviously malignant because they go in the duct and eventually the duct will bifurcate or fork so you will see bifucate, you get this y shape of calcifications and that is going to flag you,"
Beer said.

Keep in mind if you have calcifications it has nothing to do with drinking or taking calcium supplements. Doctors often do a six-month wait and see before doing further testing but if you do need further testing, say a biopsy, that can be done without major surgery.

"We have a way to do the biopsies without going to surgeon, operating and all this other stuff, it's a very easy way, right here next door in a matter of twenty minutes," said Beer.