Primary Care Talking Point: The Importance of Breast Cancer Screenings

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In the U.S., one in eight women will have breast cancer in their lifetime. We have tests to detect breast cancer early, and early detection saves lives. Here, Lisa Wright, M.D., from MUSC Health Primary Care, underscores the importance of talking to your primary care provider about early breast cancer detection and screening.

Benefits of Breast Cancer Screenings

The benefit of screening for breast cancer is finding cancer early when it’s easier to treat. Screening for breast cancer does not prevent you from getting breast cancer but allows you to know earlier in the course and get treatment started before it has potentially spread to other organs.

Who Should Get Screened

A mammogram for breast cancer screening is recommended every two years for all women aged 50 to 74 years old who are at average risk for breast cancer. Breast cancer screening tests include mammograms and breast MRI. A mammogram is basically an X-ray of the breast. For many women, mammograms are the best way to find breast cancer early, when it is easier to treat and before it is big enough to feel or cause symptoms. Currently, mammograms are the best way to detect breast cancer for most women in the screening age group. Having mammograms when recommended can lower the risk of dying from breast cancer.

Breast Screening Tests

Breast cancer screening tests include mammograms and breast MRIs. A mammogram is basically an X-ray of the breast. For many women, mammograms are the best way to find breast cancer early, when it is easier to treat and before it is big enough to feel or cause symptoms.

Currently, mammograms are the best way to detect breast cancer for most women in the screening age group. Having mammograms when recommended can lower the risk of dying from breast cancer.

A breast MRI uses magnets to take pictures of the breasts. MRI of breasts is used along with mammograms to screen women at high risk for getting breast cancer. MRIs of the breast can appear abnormal even if there is no cancer, so they are not used for women at average risk of breast cancer.

Get Screened

Make an appointment with your primary care provider and discuss getting screened for breast cancer. Primary care providers want to prevent diseases if possible and definitely want to detect cancers early so that treatment can be started right away and save lives. It's important that primary care providers partner with you in making decisions impacting your life. Let us team up with you and order your screening for breast cancer today.

Get your friends together and make a vow to get your breasts screened for breast cancer. It could save your life, and it could save your friend's life!

Dr. Lisa M. Wrightt is a board-certified family medicine physician at MUSC Health Primary Care – Ron McNair Boulevard, in Lake City. She is accepting new patients. For an appointment, call her office at 843-394-5471, or visit MUSCHealth.org.