Early Detection

Early detection is the best protection against breast cancer. Regular breast self-examination is easy to perform, and it could save your life.

The Evergreen Breast Health Center endorses the current breast screening guidelines from the American Cancer Society:

• Do a breast self exam monthly, starting in your 20s. Learn how your breasts normally feel, and report any changes promptly to your health care provider 
• A clinical breast exam is recommended every three years for women in their 20s and 30s, and every year for women 40 and older
• Have a first (baseline) mammogram by age 40, and continue with yearly mammograms

Women at higher risk for developing breast cancer should add an annual breast MRI along with their mammogram.  Women at higher risk include:

• Those with a strong family history (mother/sister/child) of breast cancer
• Those with a known BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation
• Those who had radiation therapy to the chest when they were between the ages of 10-30
• Those with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Cowden syndrome or Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome, or with a mother/sister/child with one of these syndromes

Most breast lumps are not cancerous. But if something unusual does show up during your breast self-examination, you will have given yourself an incredible gift - breast health problems found early are very treatable.