Self breast examination is necessary

According to a N17 Hospital radiologist, Dr Kesh Govender, routine screening mammograms should be performed annually for women over 40 years of age.

Self breast examinations are recommended for anyone and it helps women to get to know their breasts and to pick up anything new that feels strange, hard or irregular.

Some people feel that applying lotion or inspecting the breasts in the shower can help them detect lumps better.

When examining the breasts, it is best to use the fingers to systematically feel all quadrants of the breasts.

Resh says there can be great variation in how breasts can feel and these examinations should be performed once a month preferably just after the menstrual cycle is complete.

According to Resh, current medical aid recommendations for breast screening are one per year for women over 40 years of age.

Mammograms and sonars are used in conjunction with each other.

Some medical practices include the sonar and the price of the mammogram without any extra charges.

If there is a family history of maternal breast cancer and the person is at high risk, then screening can start at 35 years of age.

When lumps are detected during self examination, the person should visit their doctor for clarification.

Lumps can be detected on both a sonar and mammogram.

However, mammograms can help the radiologists to detect suspicious changes before the lumps become masses.

Cancer often starts with microcalcifiaction, which are small deposits of calcium in the breast or distortion in the breast tissues before a mass forms.

Hence, mammograms are better for early detection.

She says there are many different types of breasts masses which include cysts, fibroadenomas, haematomas, which is the swelling within the tissues of the breast and cancer.

“Doing the sonar and mammogram together helps to distinguish between the different types of lumps,” says Resh.

The doctors also compare the previous mammograms which is vital in the assessment.

When it comes to teenagers, mammograms are avoided for two reasons:

n Mammograms involve radiation which needs to be avoid unnecessarily in young women.

n The breast tissue is too dense on a mammogram due to hormonal changes which makes it virtually impossible to detect focal masses.

“We usually start with sonar which is often enough and if we need to investigate further, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning of the breasts can be performed which is radiation free,” she says.

Everyone has lymph nodes which are a part of a persons immune system.

In breast cancer, lymph node involvement and the spread of cancer to lymph nodes are used to stage cancer.

Staging tells the radiologist how far the cancer has spread.

“This in turn determines treatment,” says Resh, adding “the further the spread, the most radical the treatment.

Breast cancer can be treated with surgical excision, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or a combination thereof.

If a patient feels a new lump, the procedure is to visit their general practitioner.

The general practitioner will then assess the patient and refer them for further tests which will probably include a mammogram and a breast biopsy whereby tissue from the mass is sampled and sent to the laboratory for testing.

She says counselling is not routine before a mammogram, however, if the patient has questions prior to the study, they are happy to discuss the relevant concerns with them.

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