What Is A Mammogram?
It's a low-dose X-ray of the breast, consisting of two pictures per breast.
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Mammograms can detect breast cancer up to two years before it is large enough to be felt.
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With regular mammograms, women may reduce their risk of dying from breast cancer by more than 60 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
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When breast cancer is found early, the five-year survival rate is 96 percent.
- The most common way breast cancer shows up in mammograms is as a spiculated mass. It appears as a white area on the mammogram that looks like a starburst, with straight lines emanating from the mass.
- Cancerous cells can also show up as white spots or granules similar to grains of salt that appear either in one area of the breast, in a cluster or in a line.
- Most clinics and hospital radiology units offer mammography.
- The procedure takes about half an hour.
- Up to 30 percent of mammograms may be falsely negative.
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- here is general agreement among experts that most women should get a baseline mammogram between the ages of 35 and 40, and yearly from age 50 upward. However, the value of mammograms in the 40 to 50 age range is still controversial; it has usually been left up to the discretion of a woman and her physician.
- According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, mammograms represent the best method for early detection of breast cancer.
Early Signs Of Breast Cancer
- A lump is detected, usually single, firm and most often painless.
- A portion of the skin on the breast or underarm swells and has an unusual appearance.
- Veins on the skin surface become more prominent on one breast.
- The breast nipple becomes inverted, develops a rash, changes in skin texture, or has a discharge other than breast milk.
- A depression is found in an area of the breast surface.
General Facts About Breast Cancer:
Every two minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.
This year, more than 200,000 new cases of breast cancer are expected in the United States.
One woman in eight who lives to age 85 will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 55.
About 1,600 men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and 400 are predicted to die.
Seventy percent of all breast cancers are found through breast self-exams.
Not all lumps are detectable by touch. The National Breast Cancer Foundation recommends regular mammograms and monthly breast self-exams.
Eight out of 10 breast lumps are not cancerous.
More than 2 million breast cancer survivors are alive in America today.
Treatment Options:
- Breast cancer treatments will depend on the tumor stage, menopausal status, hormone receptor status and general health.
- Treatment plans often include a combination of methods. Most women will begin their treatment with surgery followed by another form of therapy. In some cases treatments will be given before surgery to shrink tumors.
- Surgery: breast-conserving lumpectomy, modified mastectomy, radical mastectomy to remove the tumor and/or neighboring tissue.
- Radiation therapy: high-energy X-ray beams that keep cells from growing and dividing in the breast or lymph nodes.
- Chemotherapy: drugs given through the blood stream to kill or stop the growth of cancer cells.
- Hormonal therapy: used to treat hormone-receptor positive breast cancers by limiting the amount of estrogen circulating in the body.
- Biologic: used to treat breast cancers that overexpress genes.
Sources: The Associated Press, The Institute of Medicine, The National Breast Cancer Foundation
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