Self-examination: “Calm down”, not “catch”.
Since Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie “bravely” underwent breast surgery to prevent cancer, the world has been swept up in a wave of “breast cancer screening”.
Of course, those who enthusiastically participate in this “activity” are basically women over 30 years old. For those young women who laugh and click the “X” button in the upper right corner of the webpage after reading the entertainment gossip, don’t they have to worry about this problem at all?
”Among the breast cancer patients I have seen, the youngest is only 16 years old.” According to experts, China is one of the countries with the fastest growing incidence of breast cancer, and there is a trend of rejuvenation, breast cancer has become the number one killer of urban women.
People have the impression that cancer is mostly seen in middle-aged and elderly people, “but clinically, breast cancer patients in their 30s are also more common.” said the expert.
Even though breast cancer treatment and technology are being enhanced, the trend of breast cancer becoming younger seems to be unstoppable. Experts believe that regular breast examinations are essential to prevent, detect and control breast cancer more effectively.
The so-called regular examination includes two aspects, one is self-examination and the other is clinical medical examination.
The current international clinical guidelines recommend that women undergo an annual clinical breast examination starting at the age of 25. Does this mean that women younger than 25 years old can rest easy?
Of course not. Just as breast cancer can occur in a 16-year-old girl, nowadays, due to adequate nutrition and early awakening of sexual consciousness, many young girls are close to adult women in terms of breast size and shape when they are 15 or 16 years old. Therefore, they are at the same risk of developing breast disease as adults.
Although there are no guidelines to tell us at which point in time young teenage girls should start checking their breasts regularly. However, from a health and hygiene perspective, “girls who are 15 years old or older, whose first menstrual period has arrived and whose mammary glands have developed, should learn to check their breasts themselves.” Expert introduction.
The most important thing about breast self-examination is actually the technique. It is important to remember to “caress”, not “grab”.
The reason is that the breast is made up of lobular units, which are themselves a mass of cells. “The actual fact is that a lot of women do not use the right technique and use a couple of fingers to grab a lobe unit of the breast, but they think it is a tumor, which scares them.” The correct technique, experts say, should be to put your fingers together and caress the past, using your fingers to feel if there are hard lumps or nodules.
After stroking around the nipple with your fingers, “don’t forget to gently squeeze the nipple to see if there is any brownish-black or bloody discharge. Director Liao Ning reminded to.
Women of childbearing age should not panic if their nipples squeeze out a clear, milky discharge during breast self-examination, because it is a normal discharge.
If there is no sudden discomfort, self-examination of the breast is sufficient once every six months or so. “Modern women’s work pressure and life pressure are very high, intensive examination information will increase the pressure, but not conducive to the health of the breast. “Experts introduced.
Over 25 years old, once a year ultrasound.
In addition to self-examination of the breast, women over the age of 25 should also visit the hospital for regular clinical examinations.
The clinical examination includes palpation by the doctor and examination by instruments.
For instrumental examinations, there are two categories: radioactive mammography and non-radioactive color ultrasound.
Currently, the international standard is that an annual color ultrasound examination of the breast is sufficient for a healthy breast (note that it is the breast) over the age of 25.
”However, if the breast is detected to have abnormalities (breast lumps, nodules and other lesions of tumor nature to be determined), it should be checked every six months.” Director Liao Ning said.
In addition, if there is a typical family history, such as a family member who has had ovarian cancer as well as breast cancer in the immediate family (mother, aunt, grandmother, aunt, grandmother, etc.), then the time to pay attention to the breast should be brought forward even more and the time to conduct breast examination, accordingly.
In fact, how the breast should be examined is very closely related to age.
For younger women, breast ultrasound is the preferred method of examination.
”If abnormalities such as lumps and cysts are found in breast ultrasound, we also do not recommend mammograms to complete further confirmation in women under 40 years old, but instead use magnetic resonance (MR).” The expert explains.
This is because mammography is a radioactive examination, and for young breasts, especially for women of childbearing age in their 20s, the breast tissue is very dense and the glandular tissue has not degenerated, so if mammography is used, the radiation will be absorbed by the glandular body when it penetrates the breast, so the mammogram taken will not only be blurred, and it is impossible to distinguish the difference between the lump and the glandular body, but also make the young woman ingest A lot of radiation.
Age 40, plus mammogram.
It is generally recommended that women begin mammograms combined with breast ultrasound at age 40, “a test that can yield a very accurate breast cancer diagnosis.” Experts note.
However, if three women in the family have breast cancer, or if there is more than one ovarian cancer patient in the maternal family, ultrasound combined with mammography should be started earlier, at age 35.
Some people think that mammography is painful and damaging to breast tissue, so they don’t want to do this kind of examination, can we use ultrasound instead?
For this idea, experts say, “The two are not interchangeable.”
Mammography is a very good screening method for the degenerating breast. The rays are able to pass through the degenerating breast, which at this time is predominantly composed of fat, and can clearly see these early signs of malignancy that exist inside the breast.
Mammography and breast ultrasound have different specificities when it comes to targeting different lesions. Mammography is relatively more accurate in diagnosing early stage breast cancer in the form of calcification. Unlike ultrasound, which is a little less capable of looking at calcifications and more capable of looking at cysts and lumps than mammography, especially for some specific tumors, such as papillomas, ultrasound shows its great power.
After menopause, there are still peaks of incidence that still need to be checked.
In the 1970s, various Western governments, including the United States, did very many population-based early screening programs for breast cancer, including a mammography screening program, and found that annual mammography examinations could improve the diagnosis rate of breast cancer in women over the age of 40, while reducing the mortality rate of breast cancer.
Therefore, for women over 40 years of age (married, unmarried, childbearing or infertile), mammography as a screening tool should be established and insisted on once a year, which is the most routine and critical method of screening for breast cancer in all breast cancer treatment guidelines.
Since the causes of breast cancer are very complex and no single factor has been found to directly influence its development, it is not like cervical cancer, which has a clear causative virus, human papillomavirus (HPV), that can be used as a clear test for cancer screening.
Therefore, even if you have been examined for several years in a row and no abnormal lesions are found in your breast, this is not a reason to take it lightly and you still need to insist on breast cancer screening every year.
There are generally two peaks of breast cancer incidence, the first peak is from 45 to 55 years old and the second peak is after 65 years old. It does not mean that after menopause, there is no more risk of breast cancer, but after menopause at age 65, there will be a peak of breast cancer incidence.
Therefore, “it is especially important for women to still adhere to annual breast checkups after menopause.” Finally, experts do not forget to remind this point.
Self-examination after menstruation is clean is most reassuring:.
Because women will have breast swelling and pain before and during menstruation, if they perform a self-examination at this time, they will obviously feel that their breasts have become larger and can even reach some nodules (breast tissue), which is actually a normal phenomenon of breast tissue being affected by estrogen levels. Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary panic, it is best to schedule your monthly breast self-examination 3-5 days after your menstruation.