UConn Health
What Women Should Know About Breast Health
Dr. Christina Stevenson, surgical oncologist, joins Al Terzi on the FOX CT “Morning Extra” to discuss breast health, the importance of mammograms and self exams, and 3D tomosynthesis, the new high-tech diagnostic tool coming to the UConn Health Center. Learn more about Breast Cancer prevention at: http://cancer.uchc.edu/treatment/services/mammography.html
now on morning extra mammograms we know they are important for breast cancer detection but who should get one and how often what's the latest on that what do you tell a woman who might be afraid to get one perhaps because she's heard that they hurt or perhaps she's worried about a positive diagnosis well October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and today we're going to get answers to those questions from Dr Christina Stevenson she's here she's a surgical oncologist at the Yukon Health Center in Farmington first doctor thank you for coming in and what is what is the latest on the the thinking about who should get a mamogram how often when did they start so we recommend that any woman uh starting at age 40 should begin having mammograms unless they have a family history of having uh early breast cancer in the family then we recommend that they should do it about 5 to 10 years before that person was diagnosed but otherwise every every woman needs to start at 40 so at at the point the the family member was diagnosed go back 5 years and that's when they should start yeah at a minimum yeah uh What uh what is the uh issue with the the the hurting part of mamogram because you know you have to press hard and they want you to press harder and there's a little discomfort of course yeah yeah unfortunately you know that's the best test that we have to look at the breast tissue and the mamogram has to compress the breast tissue so that we can see through it as well as possible so um so it is a little uncomfortable but I think it's worth it in the long run since we know that mammograms um are the only tool that we have that can help decrease your risk of dying of breast cancer now they have the the new 3D technology uh who is that for yes so we just obtain that technology at Yukon so I'm very excited and I think it's really going to help us with patients with dense breast tissue um that I think are particularly an issue especially in Connecticut we have the law where um patients are notified of their breast density and then uh you know have the option for another test and so I think with this new technology it helps us see through that dense breast tissue and it also helps uh for patients that have to get called back for extra pictures it decreases that rate by almost half what do you tell a a woman who might be afraid reluctant to to get a mamogram because she doesn't want to know or for whatever reason what how do you how do you get them over that hurdle so I think it's really important to stay up on top of your mammograms because we know that mammograms do help decrease your risk of dying of breast cancer by uh over a third um and so it's the only thing that you can really do to help prevent yourself from getting breast cancer and having it be a a um a more serious thing so we want to C catch breast cancers as early as possible we want to catch them before there's a mass that you feel and mammograms are the way to do that all right uh and now there are stages of uh development and my wife when she was diagnosed 10 years ago was stage one thank goodness uh can you describe the stages sure so we would love to catch everyone as a stage one so stage one means it's a a small cancer and hasn't spread outside of the breast into the lymph nodes under the arm um and the stages progress from there up to stage four being that you have disease that's spread throughout your body so ideally with mammograms we're catching that stage one disease because we're catching it before it's large enough to feel so uh and now as between chemo and radiation or combination how does how is that determined so that's a a little bit more complex um you know it depends on what patients opt for for their surgical treatment um patients have the option of a lumpectomy versus a mastectomy if patients have a lumpectomy then they'll require uh radiation therapy after surgery if you get a mastectomy most of the time you won't need radiation therapy um but occasionally you will and then the chemotherapy piece is a little bit more complex and is detered ADV It's usually the more advanced tumors but sometimes smaller tumors um we also do recommend chemotherapy so we actually have an additional test called an Anket type that we can test each specific tumor and determine a patient's individual benefit from chemotherapy and whether or not we'd recommend it now the breast self exams they're still critical right I think so um I know there's a lot of confusion about uh whether or not patients should be doing self- breast exams and I think all women should do self- breast exams I think you're the only person that's going to know what your breast feels like and when something's new and when you find it you can bring it to the attention of your doctor without having to wait for the doctor to find it when you see them once a year now when a woman feels something unusual there uh is it more likely that if it is cancer that it's going to be it's going to hurt to the touch or not hurt or is there any pain associated with that so typically cancers aren't painful and uh typically most of the masses that you'll feel in your breast are not painful and most of them are not cancer so I think that's important to remember um so there's a whole slew of different things that they can be things like fibromas and cysts or something in young women that we T typically feel um fiber cystic disease is a common normal changing in the breast that happens as you age and that's what more commonly you feel in older women um and then just the dense breast tissue you can feel so it's really important that women know their own breasts and know these lumps and bumps and know when something's new so um you know I think it's important to remember though if you do feel something new the odds are that it's something benign it's not cancer but it's important to still get it checked out but the the breast self exam should be done every month uh in the shower maybe a certain day of the month so you'll remember that kind of exactly so um we recommend once a month I usually say um you where how far do you go where where do you go feel um up to the um collar bone and then as far to the side as you can under the arm um all around the breast tissue and then um to the uh breast bone in the center and and if you find something there you know I know that the reaction is going to be Terror that you know I've got cancer yeah so I think it is very frightening anytime anybody feels something a lump in their breast and so I think like I said the most common thing it's going to be is something benign but it's still important to get that checked out with your doctor and make sure you have all the tests that they recommend so that we're sure that we're not missing anything earlier is better now there's a very special event at Ukon Yukon Health Center Thursday yes this Thursday at 8 a.m. um a breakfast at the pond house that's to raise uh funds for our free mamr fund for women that either are uninsured or uh underserved okay great so uh where can they find out more information about that at our website um www.ucc.edu Dr Stevenson thanks so much for coming in on morning extra today I hope you learned something very good and good for your health there
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