Exams a Must for Detecting Breast Cancer

Do it in the shower. Do it while getting ready for bed. Just do it once a month.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so it's a good time to get familiar with your breasts. Look for lumps, changes in size, shape or feel, and to see if there is any fluid.

All women should know their breasts and surrounding areas so they can be aware of changes, the American Cancer Society recommends.

Dr. Davis Hahn, an oncologist at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore City, said a woman should do a self-examination each month.

"Fifteen percent of breast cancer cases are found by self-examination, cases a mammogram might not have picked up," he said.

Hahn recommends that women start self-examinations before they get a mammogram so they have an idea of what their breasts feel like. That gives them the baseline knowledge to detect changes as they occur.

But getting clinical breast cancer screenings are also important, Hahn said.

"I don't think anyone would argue whether there's a curative benefit—there's a 30 percent decrease in the risk of dying of breast cancer for women [ages 40 years and over] who get mammograms," he said. "Some would say I'm estimating that number a little high, but that's OK—it's what I believe."

Dr. Dawn Leonard, breast surgeon and medical director of Northwest Hospital’s Herman & Walter Samuelson Breast Care Center in Randallstown, said annual mammograms should begin for women at age 40.

But if a woman has a strong family history of breast cancer it should begin earlier.

"When a woman has a family history of the disease, she should get her first mammogram five to 10 years before the earliest age of breast cancer diagnosis among her relatives," Leonard is quoted as saying in a news release.

Most doctors recommend annual mammograms for women 40 and older. Higher-risk men and women should see their doctors more often.

“Many breast cancers will be found in women who never felt a lump, because on average, mammography will detect about 80 to 90 percent of the breast cancers in women without symptoms,” said Kristina Thomson, executive vice president, interim, for the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey.

In Maryland, experts predict 4,850 new cases of breast cancer to be diagnosed this year.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the idea is to educate women and men and to raise money for the cure. Sometimes women are afraid to go see their doctors, but this is the time to do it. Grab a friend and make appointments.

The American Cancer Society works closely with health departments and health care systems to provide free mammograms. Call 1-800-227-2345 for more information.

The medical field is also working on making early-detection more comfortable.

For example, New York-Presbyterian Hospital is working on more early-detection procedures that are less invasive.

“Improvements in detection, as well as insights into surgical treatment options and their outcomes, have increasingly led to longer, improved lives for women with breast cancer,” said Dr. Andrew Seidman, who practices in New York and is part of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.