Founded in 1985, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) is celebrated each October with a mission of educating the public about the causes, risks, prevention and detection of breast cancer. With one in eight women developing invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime and more than 330,000 new cases being diagnosed every year, it has never been more important to bring attention to breast health. Interestingly, BCAM often assists in lifting the fear of the unknown about breast cancer and opens the door for many frank conversations about the topic. In addition, BCAM has been shown to increase search level activity related to breast cancer awareness.
At iCAD, we honor BCAM as well and aim to empower women to learn about how to maintain their overall breast health – not just during October, but year-round. As such, there are three things women should know in order to help reduce their potential risks of breast cancer and improve their overall breast health.
- Perform regular self-exams and research your family background – Performing self-exams is the first step in early detection. Women should check their breasts monthly for any abnormalities while in the shower, in front of a mirror or lying down. In addition to self-exams, it’s also important for women to speak with family members about their health history, as breast cancer can be hereditary and often times runs in the family.
- Get your annual mammogram – For almost 60 years, mammograms have been used to detect breast cancer. For some time, physicians have relied on 2D mammograms (once considered the gold standard for detection of breast cancer), which only produce four images of the breast: two from top to bottom and two from side to side. This type of screening has numerous shortcomings, including showing
overlapping normal breast tissue as potential areas of concern. Today, however, 3D mammograms, also known as digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), are more commonly used for screening. 3D mammograms allow radiologists to view hundreds of images of the breast from many different
angles, which provides more detail about breast tissue and greater clarity in detecting abnormalities - Understand your breast density – One aspect of breast health that is not as widely discussed – but it should be- is breast density. Dense breasts can often be harder for radiologists to examine,
and women with denser tissue can be six times more likely to develop breast cancer. In short, density is a measure used for mammogram image descriptions, which compares the area of the breast and
connective tissue to areas of fat. When getting your annual mammogram, it is important to ask your doctor or clinician whether or not you have dense breasts, as not every state has laws in place requiring women to be notified about their breast density.
All in all, this BCAM we hope women serve as their own breast health advocate and also start asking questions about their breast cancer risks. In addition, we encourage all women to take the steps necessary to ensure they are receiving the proper care they need. And remember – two-thirds of women have the potential to be saved through early detection and progressive treatments.