THE IMPORTANCE OF ANNUAL MAMMOGRAMS

The best defense is a good offense

Breast cancer is a highly individual disease, influenced by genes, family history, and unknown factors. Eating well, exercising, and keeping yourself generally healthy is not an indicator of whether you can prevent this devastating disease.

Talking with your doctor openly about the risks and benefits of mammography is the best guidance you can get, and annual exams are still covered through most insurance.

At one time, there was a concern that the inaccuracy of mammogram technology available meant that far too many women were receiving false-positives, leading to unnecessary treatment and exposure to other risks from such treatments. With Genius 3D mammography, however, our physicians are currently experiencing increases in breast cancer detection of 38%, and reduced patient callback rates of 20 to 30%.

How? This type of mammogram looks deeper into the breast tissue, layer by layer to get a more detailed and efficient picture of each breast.

This technology is even more necessary if you have dense breast tissue, which appears white on the mammogram. That white tissue can make it harder to see cancers on mammography, which when combined with the fact that women with dense breast tissue are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, makes annual mammograms even more important. In addition, breast ultrasound screening is the best complementary imaging exam to find cancers within the dense breast tissue.

The American Cancer Society recommends women begin annual screenings in the 40s, with studies showing that 40-something women whose cancer was detected by mammograms had earlier-stage cancer and less need for radical surgery or treatments.

At UDI, we also believe all women in their 40’s should undergo mammograms EVERY year.

Why? Because the average risk of a forty-year-old woman with no family history of breast cancer has a 1:64 risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. Women diagnosed in their 40s make up almost a third of all breast cancer deaths because cancers tend to be more aggressive in younger women.

“Women know their bodies best,” says Dr. George Stanley, “however a Genius 3D mammogram can pick up early stage cancers that are undetectable by touch, or even undetectable on regular 2D mammography. I strongly believe every woman needs to do this annually for peace of mind for herself and her family.”

One in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, and we need to do everything in our power to help ourselves to lower those numbers. Mammograms have reduced breast cancer mortality in the U.S. by nearly 1/3 since 1990. This new Genius 3D technology will only boost survival rates further with early detection and treatment.