The key is for women to get to know their breasts so that when they perform self-exams each month, they can notice subtle changes and alert their physicians. While the study does find that clinical breast exams performed by physicians are a necessary part of breast cancer detection, the findings do not de-emphasize the importance of mammography. Mammography helps to detect the majority of breast cancers and can detect breast cancer early when the chances for minimally invasive treatment and survival are the greatest. All women 40 years of age and older should practice monthly breast self-exams, have yearly clinical breast exams, and begin yearly screening mammograms . Click here for more information on these guidelines.
Physician often stress the importance of the triple test to detect breast cancer.
The triple test consists of physical breast exam, mammography, and ultrasound . If an abnormality is found with any one of these tests, breast biopsy or further testing may be warranted. Ultrasound is generally used to investigate a breast concern. Copyright 1997-2001 Imaginis Corporation. All rights reserved.