Use Your Best Defenses Against Breast Cancer

Health care providers agree that mammograms, along with clinical breast exams, are your best defense against breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women, after skin cancers. Experts estimate that more than 175,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed each year. It is the second leading cause of cancer death among women, the first is lung cancer.

But there's good news: Breast cancer mortality rates are declining, while the five-year survival rate is climbing. The decline in breast cancer deaths can be attributed to a number of factors, including better treatment, medicines that help prevent breast cancer in high-risk women, an increase in early detection of problems through breast exams and mammograms, and a decrease in hormone therapy after researchers found that HT boosted breast cancer risk.

Early detection

Early detection is often the key to successfully diagnosing and treating breast cancer. For good breast health and early detection of problems, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends:

• Beginning in their early 20s, women should be told the benefits and limitations of breast self-examination (BSE). Any new breast symptoms should be reported promptly to their health care provider. Women who choose to do BSE should be taught the proper technique and that technique should be reviewed periodically. It is acceptable for women not to do BSE or to do BSE irregularly.

• For women in their 20s and 30s, it is recommended that clinical breast examination (CBE) be done at least every three years. 

• Women 40 and older should begin annual mammography and have an annual clinical breast exam.  

• Women at known higher risk for breast cancer may need more frequent clinical exams and/or mammograms.

• Women should practice a healthy lifestyle that includes eating a low-fat diet, decreasing alcohol intake and getting regular exercise.

The ACS reports that mammography can reduce a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer by as much as 30 to 50 percent. Mammography, an X-ray picture of the breast, can reveal breast lumps smaller than the size of a pea. Often mammography detects malignant tumors (or cancer) two years before they can be felt by a physical exam.