What you should know about breast cancer screening and chemoprevention

How do doctors screen for breast cancer?

Mammography, an X-ray of the breast, can find tumors that are too small to feel.

What is the purpose of breast cancer screening?

• Screening can help find cancer at an early stage, when it may be easier to treat.
• If screening test results are abnormal, more tests are done to find out whether cancer is present.

Who should get screened?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammography every other year for women of average risk starting at age 50 years and continuing to age 74 or for as long as a woman is in good health. Some other organizations recommend yearly mammography starting at age 40 years. When to begin, how often to repeat, and when to stop mammography screening is a decision that individual patients should make after discussing risks and benefits with their doctor.

What is chemoprevention?

People with a high risk for breast cancer may improve their odds of staying cancer-free by taking certain medicines.

Reference: In the Clinic Annals of Internal Medicine. annals.org.ACP. American College of Physicians. Internal Medicine„ Doctors for Adults.  http://annals.org/DocumentLibrary/PatientInformationPages/itc-breast-cancer-patient-information.pdf