More than 2,000Iowa women will discover they have breast cancer this year, and as many as 400 will die from it. Only lung cancer causes more deaths among Iowa women than breast cancer.
October is breast cancer awareness month. Katharine Saunders, MD, primary care physician with UI Health Care—North Liberty, talks about detecting breast cancer:
What are the factors that put a woman at increased risk of breast cancer?
- Family history, particularly a family history of breast cancer in women under the age of 50
- Personal history of breast cancer can put you at risk of having it again
- Radiation therapy to the chest wall can put you at risk
- Estrogen therapy past menopause can put you at risk
What is the best method of detecting breast cancer as early as possible?
The combination of self breast exams, physician breast exams, and mammography give you the best detection possible.
What is a mammogram?
A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast that looks at the breast from several directions so we can see the inner workings of breast.
When should a woman have her first mammogram?
At a minimum, at age 40. If a person has risk factors, we would recommend it earlier; so it is somewhat depends on the woman.
UI Health Care researchers helped lead the studies of digital mammography, and UI Hospitals and Clinics became the first health care center in Iowa to offer digital mammograms. What are the advantages of digital mammography?
Digital mammogram is a regular X-ray of the breast, but it's a computerized image. With computerized images, you can rotate the image. You can look at it in 3-dimensions, and you can look at it from different perspectives. It allows the radiologist to have a more in-depth look at the breast.
What is the difference between a screening mammogram and a diagnostic mammogram?
A screening mammogram is a basic set of images of both breasts. If a woman sees any abnormality or has reported a lump or the physician has found a lump, a diagnostic mammogram gives more compression views, which are smaller views of any areas of concern. They may add an ultrasound to get additional information about whatever area within the breast they are concerned about.
At what age should women begin performing self breast exams?
The recommendation is to teach teenagers how to do self breast exams, with the goal of teaching women to understand their own breasts. There's been a lot of discussion in the last couple of years about how often to do breast exams. They do cause significant anxiety among some women, so the recommendation is for women to—at some point in their adolescence—learn about their breast and to do exams no more than once a month to detect any changes.
Why is it important for women to see their primary care provider at least once per year?
In addition to having a second person do a breast exam, there are other exams recommended, such as a pap smear. The combination of both is recommended for women.
Should a woman who has had breast implants for enhancement or after breast cancer surgery continue to have a mammogram?
Yes, scarring from surgeries and breast implants make it much harder for a woman to be able to detect any abnormalities in the breast. The mammogram can look through the implants and scars to see additional breast tissue, so it's actually very important to continue to do mammograms.
How can every woman reduce her chances of developing breast cancer?
The biggest thing is to know your family history—if you do hormonal replacement therapy, to take it for the shortest amount of time possible, and to follow the recommendations for screening mammography. |
