Calcutta: A digital mammography machine equipped to detect the smallest of lumps will help in early detection of breast cancer, medical experts said on Saturday.

Amulet Innovality has a compression plate feeding X-ray doses into the breasts and a detector with 50 micron pixel resolution that guarantees the sharpest of images, Chander Shekhar Sibal, senior vice-president (medical division), Fujifilm India Pvt Ltd, said.

The machine has been manufactured by its parent company in Japan. A biopsy unit kit with dedicated software ensures a precise biopsy examination with detailed images displayed on high-resolution monitors.

"Most of the existing machines have a capacity of 100 microns. This one can detect lumps that go unnoticed by other machines," Sibal said. The new machine scores on the safety aspect as well because the radiation level is less than that in a standard chest X-ray, he said.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Women over 50, especially those who have a history of cancer in their immediate family, should go for regular mammography, doctors said.

"The main reason for the high mortality rate in India is a delay in diagnosis and it can be avoided," Suma Chakrabarthi, consultant breast radiologist, Peerless Hospital, said. The hospital is the first institute in the city to have this machine, she said.

Any lump in the breast, discharge from nipples, shrunken or distorted nipples, unusual changes in the skin around the breast and pain or swelling in the armpits are symptoms women shouldn't take lightly, Chakrabarthi said. "In 80 per cent of cases, a lump is non-malignant. But women shouldn't take chances."

Surgical oncologist Gautam Mukhopadhyay said: "If breast cancer is detected early, the chances of cure are more than 80 per cent. But in advanced stages, the chances are extremely low."