In breast cancer, early diagnosis always has a life-saving value. It is known that early diagnosis is very important in many types of cancer.
For this reason, considering also how common breast cancer is, all the necessary measures for early diagnosis must be taken.
Breast cancer screening should be carried out regularly in women. In particular, mammography-based screening starting after the age of 40 should be continued regularly throughout life and must not be neglected.
How often should it be done?
Clinical examination of the breast should begin after the age of 20, and every woman should learn to examine herself, examine herself every month and have a clinical examination every 3 years.
Mammographic screening should begin at the age of 40 in a woman with no complaints and without a family history or high risk, and should continue regularly every year. Screening with mammography is carried out in women under the age of 40 in special situations or in those at high risk. Above all, it is important that every woman examines herself and feels whether there is a mass or lesion in her breast.
After the age of 40 they should also continue to examine themselves by hand regularly every month, go for a doctor’s check-up regularly every year and have a mammogram once a year.
The risk of breast cancer can change the form of screening:
Some women carry a higher risk of cancer than others. If there is breast cancer in close relatives in the family, especially occurring at a young age, or if there is ovarian cancer or prostate cancer, it will be useful for them to consult a breast radiologist or a breast surgeon and to ask for their risk to be assessed. Especially in some women with a familial risk it may be necessary to start screening with mammography and breast MRI at the ages of 25-30. For this reason it is important to receive counselling.
Can ultrasound be done instead of mammography?
Mammography is the basic method in breast cancer screening. However, ultrasound can be used as a complementary method. Adding ultrasonography to mammography is useful especially in women with dense breast tissue. You can learn from your breast radiologist whether you have dense breast tissue. In women with dense breast tissue, advanced mammography techniques such as tomosynthesis are also helpful in practice.
Besides the most frequently chosen ones, different methods can also be applied
Although the three most frequently chosen methods in breast screening are self-examination, clinical examination and mammography, different screening methods can also be applied in this process.
Especially in clarifying the diagnosis, needle biopsy and surgery are very important in terms of following the process.
“I can feel a lump, what should I do?”
In this situation you must certainly consult a breast radiologist or a breast surgeon. In this situation a mammogram can be performed whatever your age. The basic methods in making the diagnosis, such as mammography (mammography with tomosynthesis), ultrasound (together with Doppler and elastography applications), breast MRI and contrast-enhanced mammography, will be carried out according to your radiologist’s preference. If a mass is found, needle biopsy is the basic method in the diagnosis. For the first diagnosis, surgical biopsy is not preferred.
Every woman aged 20 and over…
It is important that every woman over the age of 20 examines herself regularly. Although breast cancer screenings are carried out at one-year intervals, rather than accepting the risk of a cancer developing between two screenings, self-examination should be carried out.
The most suitable time for the self-examination a person can carry out by hand is the first week after the end of menstruation. Women who have entered the menopause or who do not menstruate for certain reasons should choose a day for themselves and carry out this examination once every 30 days.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Taner Usta
Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Important note: I would like to thank very much my dear friend Prof. Dr. Erkin Arıbal, one of the most knowledgeable and most experienced radiologists in Turkey on the subject of breast radiology, for his valuable opinion and contribution regarding this article.