Breast Cancer Information

Breast Cancer Facts

80% of breast lumps are benign (not cancerous).

Breast cancer affects men, just as it does women.  However, the percentage of men who get breast cancer is substantially lower than the percentage of women affected by it.

85% of all women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of the disease.  However, it is true that if you have a daughter, mother, sister, or grandmother who has had breast cancer, your risk is increased, and you should have a mammogram 5 years prior to the age of their cancer diagnosis.  This means that if your relative was 38 when they were diagnosed, you should begin having mammograms at the age of 33. 

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 55.

70% of all lumps are initially detected through self breast-exams.

A mammogram can detect breast cancer up to two years before the lump is large enough to be felt.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women aged 40 to 55.

When breast cancer is detected early, the survival rate is 96%.  The are currently over 2,000,000 breast cancer survivors in the United States.

Early Detection of Breast Cancer

Self breast-exams should be performed once a month, beginning at the age of 20.  Women aged 20-39 should have their physician, preferably their gynecologist, perform a breast exam at least every 3 years.  After the age of 39, yearly breast examinations should be performed by your physician.  At the age of 40, most women get a baseline mammogram.  Routine mammograms are usually performed every 1 to 2 years between the ages of 40-49, depending on history.  Once you reach the age of 50, you should receive a mammogram once a year.  Please keep in mind that this information is for those women who have no history of breast cancer, as well as no family history of it.

Breast Self-Exam  (BSE)

Breast cancer cannot yet be prevented. However, doing breast self-examination monthly may help you find suspicious changes that may be signs of cancer.

During a BSE, you should be checking for lumps and any changes in your breasts. Becoming familiar with how your breasts normally feel and look is an important part of this exam. This makes it easier to notice changes over time. If you feel unsure about how to do a BSE or what to look for, ask your gynecologist to do an exam with you.

There are three steps to a BSE. Doing the first step of a BSE in the shower helps because soapy or wet fingers slide easily across the skin.

1. While standing in the shower, raise your right arm overhead. The finger pads of three middle fingers on the left hand should be used to make tiny circles on the skin of the right breast. One way to cover the whole breast is to move in a spiral pattern from the outer edge of the breast to the nipple. Another way is to move straight across the breast from the top edge to the bottom. The skin under the arm and the skin between breast and armpit should be carefully checked, too. Most cancerous lumps are found in the quarter of the breast closest to the armpit. Next, your should switch arms to do the same exam the left breast.

2. After coming out of the shower, you should lie down on your back. You should put your right arm overhead and a pillow under that shoulder. The steps followed in the shower should be repeated on the right breast. Your should then switch and do the same exam on the left breast.

3. Standing in front of a mirror, you should look for redness or scaly skin on the breast or nipples, changes in the nipple, such as fluid leaking from it or the nipple turning inward dimpled, puckered, or swollen spots on the breast.

You should then tuck your hands behind your head and check again for these signs. Next, you should put your hands on your hips and tip your elbows toward the mirror. Bending forward a bit, you should look for the same signs again. Last, you should squeeze the nipples on both breasts to see if any fluid leaks out. (If you're breastfeeding, it is normal to see drops of breast milk.)

You should report any lumps or changes in her breasts or any of the signs mentioned above to your physician right away. While women fear finding a lump, most often this is not a sign of cancer. It may instead be a fluid-filled sac called a cyst or another benign clump of cells. However, it is very important to have any such problem checked by a physician.

 

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