Mammos Starting at age 40 Breast Cancer Information Know The Facts Know The Risks Know The Signs Breast Self Examination / Q & A

Know the Facts

Fact: Next to lung cancer, breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer among American women

Fact: Breast cancer affects one of every nine women in the United States

Fact: Breast cancer accounts for 26% of all cancer in females

Fact: One-third of all breast cancers can be detected before the age of 50

Fact: Breast cancer survival rate is 100% if detected in its earliest stages

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Know the Risks

Risk: If you are a woman

Risk: If you are over the age of 50

Risk: If you have a prior history of breast cancer

Risk: If you have a family history of breast cancer

Risk: If you are going through early menstruation or late menopause

Risk: If you have had no full-term pregnancies or first birth before age 30

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Know the Signs

If you have any of the following possible breast cancer warning signs, make an appointment to see your physician immediately and follow your physician’s recommendations for a mammogram or other diagnostic procedures.

Sign: You have a lump (often solitary) that is firm to the touch and not painful

Sign: You have an inverted nipple in a previously normal breast

Sign: Your skin is thickening - a portion of the skin on the breast may look like an orange peel

Sign: You have superficial veins - a prominence of surface veins on one breast

Sign: Your skin is dimpling - a depression in the skin on your breast

For women between the age of 35 and 40, without breast cancer symptoms, the American Cancer Society recommends a baseline mammogram and repeat mammograms every year after the age of 40 at your physician’s discretion.

Early detection of breast cancer is best achieved through mammography and physical examination.

• Mammography has proven to detect 90% of breast cancers while physical examination can detect only 55% of such cancers.
  Note: Digital mammography is better for imaging breast implants and dense breasts. Another benefit of digital mammography is that there are fewer callbacks, which means less radiation.
• Breast Self Examination is easy to do, inexpensive and effectively performed by the woman herself. In fact, most breast cancers are discovered through self examination.
• Ultrasound is used to evaluate lumps in the breast to determine if they are solid lumps or cysts. This examination is often used as a backup to mammography.
• Magnetic Resonance Mammography is another method for evaluating breast disease. This examination is more often used in detecting breast implant rupture.