There are people who are scared to get tested for any type of disease or condition. They would rather pretend that they know everything is perfectly ok rather than actually know that there is an existing condition. However, this should not be the case. In the case of breast cancer, early screening and testing is essential. A few months of procrastination could mean the difference between a renewed life and sudden, unexpected death.
Screening Tests
Screening tests refer to regular testing performed on people who do not even have symptoms of the disease. These include regular home screening, clinical screening or appointment with the physician and yearly mammograms. So, people who go through screening are those that may look healthy but just want to make sure they do not have breast cancer.
Home Screening
The first thing that you should do is regularly check your breasts for strange lumps and cysts. Take note of those. Try to remember when you first felt them. Be ready for a physical exam with your physician.
Physician’s Appointment
Get checked by your physician. He or she will check the lumps, cysts or tumors and try to diagnose them on the spot. He or she will be using bare hands to feel the lumps. However, your physician will most likely request in-depth screening or testing just to be on the safe side. The screening and testing could be one test or a combination of tests.
Mammogram
Your physician, even after a clinical screening, may still recommend a mammogram. At this point, it is no longer a question of a healthy-looking, symptom-free person going for screening. Your physician, through the clinical screening, may have detected a lump or a cyst and may recommend a mammogram. A mammogram is a sort of x ray for the breasts. It is used to screen for breast cancer. During your screening mammogram, an abnormality can be detected. When this happens, you will be recommended to have another type of mammogram performed on you. This type of mammogram is called a diagnostic mammogram. This should help further evaluate your actual condition.
Follow-up Testing
After a regular screening, a suspicious lump could be found. If mammogram screening is not enough, you could be recommended for diagnostic mammograms. You may also be asked to go through one of the following:
Breast Ultrasound
You may also be recommended to go through a breast ultrasound. This is similar to a mammogram in the sense that you get an idea of what is inside your breast tissues. With an ultrasound, you get a better idea of the structures inside your breasts. You may also be able to detect abnormalities, as with the mammogram. With a breast ultrasound, you can distinguish a fluid-filled cyst from a breast tumor. This could ultimately rule out breast cancer, at least if the lump turns out to be a benign cyst.
Breast MRI
You probably hear a lot about MRIs, not just in the case of screening for breast cancer but also for screening of other types of cancer as well. Breast MRI, which means breast magnetic resonance imaging, makes of use of radio and magnetic waves to create images or pictures of your breast’s interior. Your breasts will be injected with a dye so that the structures within will appear clearer.
Diagnostic Testing
Breast ultrasound and breast MRI, which were discussed earlier, may also be forms of diagnostic testing. Diagnostic testing refers to the tests that are performed on women who are suspected of having breast cancer. These are women who are displaying symptoms of the disease or have abnormal results in the screening tests for breast cancer. They need to then proceed to diagnostic testing. Aside from diagnostic mammograms, breast MRIs and breast ultrasounds, a biopsy may also be a form of diagnostic testing.
Biopsy
When a biopsy is performed on you, the doctor will remove sample tissue from your breast. There are several types of biopsy, however, each of them varying in invasiveness. The least invasive of them all is the fine needle aspiration biopsy. You will be injected with local anesthesia. The hollow needle will be inserted on the area where the suspicious lump is and will extract cells that will be tested. One of the most invasive biopsies is the incisional biopsy. This proceeds like a typical minor surgery. The physician will use a scalpel to cut through the breast and remove tissue from there. Excisional biopsy, however, is more invasive than this being the most involved of all the biopsies. Not only does the suspicious tissue gets removed but also a rim of tissue surrounding it.
Getting screened and tested for breast cancer can be really scary. It can be nerve-wracking just to wait for the results to come out. There are even diagnostic tests that are in themselves scary. An example is the excisional biopsy procedure. However, screening and testing is definitely important in the battle against breast cancer. You may save your life when you get screened even if you are not feeling any symptoms.