Early detection of breast cancer, is it important?

Why is the early detection of breast cancer so important?

We are days away from the International Breast Cancer Day and, to honor this important date (October 19th) we want to talk about the importance of the early detection for this type of cancer

Let’s begin with some important data to give some relevance to our talk today: 

• Breast cancer is the most frequent cause of death worldwide and in the U.S. alone is the second one according to hospitalaleman.org.ar. 
• Nowadays the average risk for a woman to have breast cancer some day of her life in the U.S. is 13% that is, one out of eight women will suffer from that according to the American Cancer Society. 
• This society also says that currently in the U.S there are more than 3.8 million breast cancer survivors including the ones in treatment.

This data shows us how serious this disease is and, at the same time, tells us we have hope to survive, as long as we have an early detection of it. Can you picture it? The fight against cancer is not a one-day fight.

What is breast cancer early detection?

Early detection, according to cancer.org, means to find and diagnose diseases before feeling the symptoms. In other words, the idea of the early discovery of cancer is to identify any type of anomaly in the breasts before more complicated symptoms, in that way, you can receive early and advanced treatment to fight the disease, allowing in an easy way to achieve positive results.

How to detect breast cancer?

Before telling you the breast detection methods, let’s talk a little bit about what you should be doing according to your age and risk, which will depend on elements such as family or personal background linked to this problem or any genetic mutation.

For women with average risk (called this way by the American Society against cancer) take this into account: 

• If you’re between 20 and 25 Y/O: Monthly self exam
• If you’re between 25 and 40 Y/O: Visit annually your doctor 
• If you’re between 40 and 44 Y/O: Ask each year for a mammogram. 
• If you’re between 45 and 54 Y/O: Annual mandatory mammogram
• If you’re 55 Y/O or older: You have the option of having the exam every year or every two years as long as you’re healthy.

So, depending on your age, it exists different methods to discover cancer on time, these are:  

1. Magnetic Resonance: This is exclusive for high genetic risk women and is an exam for prognosis and follow-up of breast cancer according to the Hospital Alemán.

The most effective way by working together against cancer is by being aware and making people conscious. friends, family and relatives, share this article or any other content that is clear and make people realize the importance of early detection.

At Fajitex we join this fight today and every single day.