TRUTH! Fewer women have to undergo additional studies with 3D mammography because we can separate overlapping tissue and improve the radiologist’s ability to see what is normal.
3D mammography requires 20% fewer follow-up exams.
TRUTH! 3D mammography is able to find more small, invasive breast cancers than 2D mammography.
3D mammography finds more breast cancers, at earlier, more treatable stages as compared to traditional 2D mammography.
TRUTH! The earlier breast cancer is found, the more treatable and potentially curable. Do not let fear of a breast cancer diagnosis keep you from undergoing screening!
Early stage breast cancer has a nearly 98% cure rate.
MYTH! Most lumps and bumps you or your doctor find in your breast will turn out to be normal breast tissue or benign, noncancerous lumps. BUT any change in your breasts should prompt further evaluation! Depending on your age, the evaluation may include mammography, or breast ultrasound. A small percentage of women will have to undergo biopsy.
Most breast lumps found on clinical breast exams will need to undergo biopsy for diagnosis.
October is coming to an end and with it an end to another Breast Cancer Awareness Month. How successful was this 2015 month of pink awareness? Perhaps this year more than most, the results were decidedly mixed.
The message that early detection saves lives was out there in many formats and for this we are grateful.
We are grateful for the focus this month brings to a subject that touches all of our lives.
Tempering our enthusiasm is the concern that the positive messages of this month may have been overshadowed by confusion- confusion created by the new “guidelines” published by the American Cancer Society. Did we really gain anything more than confusion from a new conflicting and not universally accepted set of guidelines? Here’s where we stand:
And so, as another Halloween approaches, we are grateful for the spotlight of October on breast cancer. Our dream is that one day soon there will no longer be a need for this month of awareness, that breast cancer will no longer be a threat to women’s – and men’s- lives. Together we can get there!
(Image credit: “Pinktober pink october breast cancer awareness” by © Nevit Dilmen. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Myth! There ARE disparities in race when it comes to breast cancer. While Caucasian, non-Hispanic women are more likely to get breast cancer, breast cancer is often more deadly in African-American women.
MammographyKC.com – breast health, breast imaging, breast knowledge. 
