Healthy Living: Breast cancer testing
When finding a lump in your breast a journey starts... a journey of doctor appointments and examinations. In order to determine the course of action, specific tests are required.
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"Your likelihood of developing breast cancer if you have a family history is overall five percent. If you have a family history of ovarian cancer at a young age or someone had it pre-menopausal, than you are high risk," said Dr. Ruth Beer
When do you need a mammography? Baseline testing guidelines were changed a year ago, bumping up the age up to fifty for your first one.. if you have no family history but many doctors still advise beginning at age 40. Have a mom or sister diagnosed with breast cancer? Talk to your doctor to determine when you need to start your screenings. The mammogram can catch cancer early, and newer machines have less radiation.
"You have to have a tumor of a certain size or infiltrating or calcifications for early breast cancer," said Beer.
If something is found in the mammogram, an ultrasound may be ordered, but only highly trained staff should be doing them and be sure your doctor is using specific ultrasound equipment, designed specifically only for the breast.
"Ultrasound is based on echoes and the echoes depend on the resistance of the different tissue. So you have to have differences in issue resistance to show masses. You cannot see calcifications on an ultrasound, that's the biggest problem," Beer said.
While the highest level of testing is an MRI, they are not easy to get. Insurance companies require strict criteria, the main one being a previous history of cancer.
"Somewhere about 20 percent of women who have had breast cancer will have another cancer. If you are going to have an MRI make sure, you have to ask the facility if they can do an image guided biopsy. Why? To do an image guided biopsy, you can't bring in a regular needle in a suite because of the magnetic field. You have to be sure the place is a specific one, they have special grids and otherwise, how are you going to find the spot," Beer said."