Let's Talk About Breast Cancer Screening and Mammograms

Cancer in any form is a challenging disease, and anytime you have the opportunity to be proactive, it’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss.

When it comes to breast cancer, which affects one in eight women in the United States, there’s an effective way in which we can screen for this disease — the mammogram, which is a specialized X-ray of your breast tissues.

Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the US, our team of women’s health care providers at Bayard Street Obstetrics & Gynecology is focusing this month’s blog post on mammograms and screening recommendations, which have changed slightly.

When to start screening through mammograms

Previous recommendations counseled women to start getting routine mammograms at age 50. Due to increasing breast cancer rates among younger women over the past couple of decades, the US Preventive Services Task Force has lowered that age to 40. Now, this agency recommends mammograms every two years between ages 40 and 74.

The American Cancer Society takes a more cautious approach and recommends:

• Women have the option to screen every year between ages 40 and 44
• Women between 45 and 54 should get a mammogram yearly
• Women 55 and older should screen every year or every other year

Bear in mind that these recommendations are for women of average risk for breast cancer.

Assessing your risks for breast cancer

There are many different factors that can increase your risks for breast cancer — some that are strong and some that are more indirect.

Some of the strong risk factors for breast cancer include:

• Having a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation
• Having a family history of breast or ovarian cancer
• Having a personal history of breast cancer
• Having radiation to your chest before age 30
• Having menstrual cycles before age 12 or up to age 55

If you have any of these risk factors, we may recommend a more aggressive screening schedule to be on the safe side.

Weaker factors include things like being overweight, smoking, drinking, and not exercising — all of which are risk factors for a host of health issues, not just breast cancer.

A word about dense breast tissue

Another factor that’s on the list for risks for breast cancer is dense breast tissue — not only does having dense breast tissue raise your risks slightly, but it also makes mammography more challenging. 

In many cases, women with dense breast tissue benefit from additional imaging, such as MRI and ultrasound, which can detect abnormal growths in dense tissue better than X-ray is able to.

The best way to figure out the ideal breast cancer screening schedule for your circumstances is to sit down with one of our specialists to evaluate your health and your risks. 

To get that ball rolling, we invite you to contact Bayard Street Obstetrics & Gynecology at one of our New York locations — in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Flushing, Queens, and Syosset on Long Island. You can also request an appointment online.