If you’re a woman over 40 and you can’t remember the last time you had a mammogram, you may be overdue.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some time in their lives. But the good news is that mammograms – X-ray pictures of the breast – can detect breast cancer early, when it’s most treatable.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a mammogram can show a lump in the breast an average of one to three years earlier than a woman can feel it.
When to Get a Mammogram
The NCI recommends that women in their 40s and older have mammograms every one to two years. Some women who are at higher-than-average risk of breast cancer, such as women with a family history of the disease, may need to get a mammogram at a younger age, and more often. Talk to your doctor about when you should get a mammogram.
Just Do It
According to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, some women just don’t take the time to get a mammogram, or they give other reasons for not going. Reasons include discomfort during the test, fear of a possible diagnosis, and thinking that mammograms are unnecessary past a certain age.
While some women experience pain during a mammogram (The breast is compressed between two plates in order to get a sharp image.), the discomfort lasts only a few seconds while the X-ray is being taken.
Though fear of a possible diagnosis is understandable, not knowing is worse. It helps to remember that most lumps are not cancerous, but if breast cancer is found, treatment is more successful when caught early. Deaths from breast cancer have been dropping steadily since 1990 due to early detection with mammography and advances in treatment.
Some women think that as they grow older, they don’t need to get mammograms as often. This is a mistake. The older a woman is, the greater her chance of developing breast cancer. According to the NCI, a woman’s chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer is:
Ages 20 to 29 > 1 in 2,000
Ages 30 to 39 > 1 in 229
Ages 40 to 49 > 1 in 68
Ages 50 to 59 > 1 in 37
Ages 60 to 69 > 1 in 26
Ages 70 to 79 > 1 in 24
Don’t let fear, nervous apprehension, mistaken ideas or a busy lifestyle stop you from getting routine mammograms. Mammography is a crucial step in the early detection of breast cancer. Studies have clearly shown that the smaller the size of the breast cancer when detected, the better the chance of a surgical cure and long-term survival.