Reports show that death rates from breast cancer have been declining since the early 1990’s due in part to earlier detection and improved treatments. The first step in detecting cancer is to routinely examine your breasts and surrounding tissues.

Breast Self-Exam (BSE): BSE is an option for women starting in their 20s. If you decide to do BSE, you should have your doctor or nurse check your method to make sure you are doing it right. If you do BSE on a regular basis, you get to know how your breasts normally feel. Then you can more easily notice changes.

• The most important thing is to see your doctor right away if you notice any of these changes: a lump or swelling, skin irritation or dimpling, nipple pain or the nipple turning inward, redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin, or a discharge other than breast milk. But remember that most of the time these breast changes are not cancer.

Clinical Breast Exam (CBE): Women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam (CBE) as part of a regular exam by a health expert, preferably every 3 years. After age 40, women should have a breast exam by a health expert every year. It might be a good idea to have the CBE shortly before the mammogram. You can use the exam to learn what your own breasts feel like.

Digital Mammography: The latest technology offered is digital mammography (vs. standard film mammography). Both methods capture an image of the breast with an x-ray, but the digital image is entered into a computer and examined from different angles and zoomed in for a closer look at dense tissue. An x-ray film does not have that capability. The DMIST Trial performed from 2001-2002 showed that digital mammography was significantly better than film mammography in screening women who were under age 50, or women of any age who had very dense breasts. Digital mammography also uses less radiation than standard mammography, though standard levels are said to be less than one would be subjected to flying from New York to California on a jet plane.

• Currently only a fraction of mammography units in the U.S. have digital systems. The Breast Diagnostic Center of Marin is proud to offer this leading edge technology to its patients.

Biopsy is used to diagnose cancer and determine its stage. A biopsy involves taking a tissue sample from the suspected cancer for examination by a specialist in a laboratory. A biopsy is often performed in the physician’s office or in an outpatient surgery center. A positive biopsy indicates the presence of cancer; a negative biopsy may indicate that no cancer is present in the sample.

Learn more about the latest diagnostic testing available at MCI’s Breast Diagnostic Center of Marin.