Breast Self-Exams: Regular self-exams play a vital role in identifying changes in your breast tissue. By familiarising yourself with the texture, shape, and size of your breasts, you can quickly spot any unusual developments.
Clinical Breast Exams: Schedule regular clinical breast exams with a healthcare professional. These exams aim to identify any abnormalities that self-exams alone might not notice.
Mammograms: Mammograms are X-ray images of the breast that can detect even the tiniest changes in breast tissue. Women over 40 should get regular mammograms. If a family has a history of breast cancer, they may need earlier screening.
Ultrasound: Ultrasound allows for “real time” imaging and helps diagnose symptoms and doctors often perform it alongside a mammogram to gather more information. For example, it can help in the diagnosis of cysts. It is also useful as a means of performing a biopsy.
Magnet Resonance Imaging (MRI): MRI uses a magnetic field to create images of the breast tissue. It does not use radiation or x-rays like a mammogram does.
MRI has been shown to be a very sensitive tool for screening for breast cancer, particularly for women at high risk, for example, those with a very strong family history of breast cancer, or at risk because of a genetic predisposition.
