By Glinn Klienberg
In the last several years, some organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Preventative Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society have decided to modify their recommendation concerning routine breast care with self-screening breast exams. However, not all the medical professionals agree.
Using large-scale clinical trials, some medical literature published a recent review. They, too, concluded that routine self-exams do not lower the number of deaths from breast cancer. Most women who have found a lump in one or both breasts will definitely disagree. Many state that by the time they would have received their next mammogram; their cancer could have progressed or even spread.
1. One doctor, Virginia Kaklamani, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Northwestern University and is an oncologist at Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital states that there are currently many statements concerning self-exams in the medical community that are controversial, based on these recent studies. However, she states that self-exams are an extremely important aspect of a woman’s arsenal in the detection of breast cancer.
2. Dr. Kaklamani believes that many women who routinely perform breast self-exams will know how her breasts normally feel making them adept at detecting changes. This is helpful because she may detect changes in her breasts sooner than her doctor would. For women who ordinarily have lumpy feeling breasts, being able to detect changes during is extremely important. The women who perform regular breast exams will be proficient at detecting subtle and significant changes in their breasts according to Dr. Kaklamani.
3. Dorothy Pierce, RN, who is an advance practice nurse in New Brunswick at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, stated that although mammograms being done on a regular basis (yearly) are very effective at detecting breast cancer and saving lives, they are not perfect. She continued saying that a mammography’s sensitivity level is 80%; for this reason, using mammography alone would mean that a considerable number of cancers would go undetected.
Best Time to Do Your Self-Exam
Although scheduling a personal breast self-exam depends on several factors, all women should at least perform an exam on a monthly basis.
Premenopausal Women with Regular Cycles
If your menstrual cycles are normal and you are premenopausal, you should schedule your self-exam between the seventh and tenth days of your cycle. This is because this is the point when your breasts will be the least tender, swollen or lumpy because of hormonal changes. Even women that have breast implants need to perform a monthly exam.
Postmenopausal Women and Women with Irregular Cycles
Those women who are postmenopausal and women who are premenopausal with irregular cycles will choose a day. The day that she chooses needs to be a day that she is likely to remember. Many women find that performing their exam on the first day of each month is an easy day to remember.
Tips for a Successful Exam/What to Look For
It does not matter what time of day a woman checks her breasts. Pierce does suggest that performing your self-exam in the shower is helpful. This is because soapy hands may help you detect changes more easily. Be sure once you exit the shower that you look in the mirror for breast changes. Look for changes such as swelling, puckering, retraction, dimpling or skin thickening.
Why Self-Exams are Essential
According to doctors, the best chance a woman has to fight breast cancer and win is with early detection. Early detection is best achieved using several tools according to Pierce. These routine breast care tools include regular breast exams annually, monthly breast cancer self-exams and yearly mammograms.
Glinn Klienberg wanted to know the risks and benefits of breast cancer treatment options and to see if there were less evasive treatments. Porter Adventist Hospital’s mammogram center offers the best in breast care from routine to complex cancer treatments.