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Breast Cancer Profiler Main
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Since early breast cancer may be too small to be felt, mammography is recommended for all women on a regular basis. This test is the best way to diagnose an early breast cancer before symptoms appear and therefore provide the highest chance of cure. A mammogram is an x-ray picture of the breast, which can detect a breast cancer on an average of two years before any signs or symptoms. Mammography isn't foolproof, however. A mammogram may miss some cancers that are present (called false negative) or may find abnormalities that turn out not to be cancer (called false positive). And detecting a cancer early does not guarantee that a patient's life will be saved. Some fast-growing cancers may already have spread to other parts of the body before being detected. Nonetheless, regularly scheduled screening mammograms (mammograms that are done in patients with no symptoms to detect an early breast cancer), together with clinical breast examinations by a healthcare provider offers the best chance of finding and treating breast cancer early.  There is some controversy about the age at which a woman should begin having annual mammography to detect breast cancer. The American Cancer Society (ACS) suggests women 40 and older have a mammogram annually; the National Cancer Institute (NCI) recommends these women have a mammogram every year or two. A breast exam that is given by a healthcare professional, called a "clinical breast exam" (CBE), should be done every year as well, preferably close to the time of the mammogram. Women age 20 to 39 should have a CBE every three years, and all women should perform monthly breast self-exams. An estimated eighty to ninety percent of breast cancers are detected by women doing breast self-examination, so it is useful to do it regularly (the ACS recommends monthly), to become familiar with the size, shape, and feel of your breasts. Knowing how your breasts respond to normal monthly hormonal changes, also will help you notice when there's an unusual changes. When a woman does notice something unusual, the healthcare professional detects an abnormality during the clinical breast examination, or mammography indicates a suspicious area, a physician will determine if additional testing or a biopsy is needed. If a lump is present and the physician suspects it may be a cyst (a fluid-filled sac), he can attempt to drain the cyst through a thin needle inserted into the breast. This procedure is called "fine needle aspiration" and can show whether a lump is cystic (not cancer) or solid (which may or may not be cancer). Clear fluid from a cyst may not need to be check by a lab. In most cases, the cyst is benign, and draining the fluid is the only treatment necessary. Eventually, the walls of the cyst collapse and the body heals itself. Or the physician may request a diagnostic ultrasound (US) first to determine whether the lump is a fluid-filled cyst or a solid mass. Ultrasound, a non-invasive, quick, and painless test that utilizes reflected sound waves to create an image of breast tissue, can provide further information. It can determine whether a lump is solid or cystic; but it cannot determine whether a malignancy is present or not. Ultrasound often is used routinely on women with very large breasts or who have breast implants. If the lump does not disappear when the fluid is removed, or an ultrasound image does not indicate the presence of a fluid-filled cyst, then a biopsy is performed.  This content is reviewed regularly. Last Updated 6/6/2007
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