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Against Breast Cancer

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Re: high risk breast cancer?

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Posted by Betsy Mullen on 3/5/2000 from 152.163.194.182:
In reply to: high risk breast cancer? posted by Michelle Sandoval on 3/4/2000 from 152.163.207.206:
That is a difficult question for me to answer for several reasons. I am not an RN, MD or mammography technician. Also, everybody and every body are different. Younger, premenopausal women tend to have denser breast tissue, so the efficacy of screening mammograms before the age of 35-40 (depending upon risk factors) is an issue worth discussion with your health care team.

You should feel fully empowered to seek second opinions and have all of your questions answered to your satisfaction with full explanations. If you are set on having your first mammogram now, than you certainly should pursue having a baseline mammogram (first for future comparison) performed. You could also ask your physician about breast ultrasound. Ultrasound is often used as follow-up to a mammogram and/or when a breast lump is found in a woman younger than 35 years of age. In any case, it is very important to make sure that your imaging center and technician are well qualified and that your mammography center is FDA certified. We have a link to the FDA website in the resources section of this site (winabc.org).

There are other risk factors associated with breast cancer such as the age at which you started your period, the age a woman enters menopause (looking at lifetime exposure to estrogen figures in to these first two factors, whether or not you have given birth to your first child before the age of 30, the age at which a woman's mother had breast cancer (e.g., before the age of 40). In addition, a woman's risk of breast cancer increases with age.

We have some great educational materials on breast anatomy, breast self-exam and breast cancer risk factors, to name a few key subjects that I know are of interest to you. We will be delighted to put a package of this information together for you and send it to you free of charge. You are welcome to call or e-mail our office with your address and telephone number. Our main office telephone number is (626) 332-2255; main e-mail is mail@winabc.org. Also, you can register for monthly e-mail breast self-exam reminders on this site. I also suggest you check out the 10 Key Questions for Women to Ask Their Health Plans About Breast Cancer Care (which includes screening questions) here on this site.

It is also important that you go in for yearly clinical breast exams by a qualified health care provider as well as regular PAP smears.

I wish you all the best, and please do let us know if we can be of further assistance to you. Please keep us updated on your situation and take care.