Today, October 17,2008, is being celebrated as World Mammography Day....
(October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month.)
Today, women over 40 years old are being encouraged to do their annual mammograms and women between ages 30-39 are being encouraged to do their baseline mammograms.
These terms are explained below:
According to sites: advancedbreasttreatment.com/glossary.html and medicineworld.org/cancer/descriptions.html, a mammogram is an X-ray of the breast. It is a method of detecting breast cancers that cannot be felt. Mammograms are done with a special type of X-ray machine that is used only for this purpose.
...The machine works similarly to the X-ray machine used for doing chest X-rays and exposes the breast to very low doses of radiation.
Breast tumors, because of their higher density compared to normal tissues, are seen as abnormalities on a mammogram.
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A baseline mammogram is the first X-ray of the breast that shows what your normal breast tissue looks like.
It acts as a reference point for future mammograms, so that the doctor can see how your breast tissue changes over time, when compared with the first X-ray of the breast.
According to site: Breast cancer Facts from About.com's Women's Health:
1) Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.
2) The first sign of breast cancer usually shows up on a woman's mammogram before it can be felt or any other symptoms are present.
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Breast cancer affects one in every 23 Jamaican women and one in every 8 women, globally.
Regular breast-self exams - done once per month, regular annual visits to the doctor and in the case of women over 35, mammograms) are the best ways to detect cancer early.
Studies show that 96% of women who find and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after five (5) years.
Please see our previous post from October 2006, here, re how to do your breast self-exams.
While you're there, you can also take a look at the previous post - "Little Known Facts About Breast Cancer" written on October 23, 2006.
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....So have you done your mammogram as yet?
You should do it to today - it could save your life!
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Screening for Mammograms, in Jamaica can be done at:
16 Lady Musgrave Road, Kingston 5.
(It is recommended that persons wishing to have this test done make an appointment by calling 876-927-4265.)
For our friends outside of Jamaica, you can check your local Cancer Societies to see where they do the screenings.
Here are some helpful links:
1) The American Cancer Society
2) The Canadian Cancer Society
3) International Directory of Cancer Societies & Organizations .
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Please see the inset YouTube video, above, which gives a simple and helpful explanation of what the mammogram involves and how doing one can save your life!
Gillian
Sources Include:
1) Breast Cancer Facts, by Tracee Cornforth, About.com's Women's Health section, December 1,2003
2) Myths and facts about breast cancer, Prevention Magazine-The Indian Edition, October 2008
