Breast Health

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Self Breast Awareness

Breast cancer often is found by a woman herself. This happens in almost one half of all cases of breast cancer in women aged 50 years and older. More than 70% of cases in women younger than 50 years are found by women themselves. For this reason, it is important to develop an understanding of how your breasts normally look and feel. This is called breast self-awareness. Breast self-awareness does not require you to examine your breasts once a month or with a precise method. Instead, it focuses on having a sense of what is normal for your breasts so that you can tell if there are changes—even small changes—and report them to your provider at Intricate Health.

Clinical Breast Exams

At Intricate Health we examine your breasts during routine checkups. This is called a clinical breast exam. 

For women who are at average risk of breast cancer and who do not have symptoms, the following are suggested: 

• Clinical breast exam every 1–3 years for women aged 25–39 years 

• Clinical breast exam every year for women aged 40 years and older 

Your providers at Intricate Health are here to discuss the options for clinical breast exams and make the decision that you are most comfortable with. A clinical breast exam takes only a few minutes. The exam may be done while you are lying down or sitting up. The breasts are checked for any changes in size or shape. We will also look for puckers, dimples, or redness of the skin. He or she may feel for changes in each breast and under each arm.

What is a Mammography?

Mammography is the primary tool used to screen for breast cancer. Mammography uses X-ray technology to view the breasts. The images created are called a mammogram. A doctor called a radiologist reads the images. 

Mammography is done for two reasons: 

1) as a screening test to check for breast cancer in women who do not have signs or symptoms of the disease, and 

2) as a diagnostic test to check lumps or other symptoms that you have found yourself or that have been found by an obstetrician–gynecologist (ob-gyn) or other health care professional. 

Who Should Have a Mammography?

Average-risk women should be offered mammography starting at age 40 years. If screening has not started in your 40s, you should begin having mammography no later than age 50 years. Screening should be done every 1 or 2 years until at least age 75 years. If you are older than 75 years, talk with your provider at Intricate Health about whether you should continue having a mammography. If you are at high risk of breast cancer, screening may begin at a younger age, may be more frequent, and may involve additional types of screening tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Benefits and Harms of Mammography

Early detection of breast cancer with screening mammography may decrease the risk of dying from breast cancer. But like other screening tests, mammography is not perfect. Mammography may miss cancer even when it is present. If results do not show cancer but you do in fact have cancer, it is called a false-negative result. False-negative results can lead to delays in treatment. Mammography also may show something that is thought to be cancer, but when results of follow-up tests are read, they show that you do not have cancer. This is called a false-positive result. 

Follow-up testing can be inconvenient and uncomfortable, and it can cause anxiety. In some cases, additional testing can lead to increased costs for the patient. When deciding at what age to start screening and how often to be screened, it is important to keep the potential benefits and harms in mind. For women at average risk, starting screening at age 40 years prevents slightly more deaths from breast cancer than starting screening at age 50 years, but it leads to more unnecessary follow-up testing and false-positive results. At age 55, screening every 2 years appears to give a more equal balance between benefits and harms. 

Your provider at Intricate Health will be available to discuss the options for screening mammography and make the decision that you are most comfortable with