Why Regular Screening for Breast Cancer Is So Important

Outside of skin cancer, breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women — one in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer. Drilling down further, nearly 317,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women in 2025.

Given these numbers, you can see why breast cancer screening should be a part of every woman’s preventive healthcare practices.

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the US, the experienced team of women’s healthcare providers at Bay Area Physicians for Women’s Health wants to review some good rules of thumb for staying one step ahead of breast cancer through regular screening.

Women of average risk for breast cancer

One of the important tasks that we accomplish during your well-woman exams is to assess your risks for reproductive cancers, such as breast cancer, as well as ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancers.

If we find that you’re of average risk for breast cancer (more on risk factors in a moment), the US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that you get screened every two years between the ages of 40 and 74. When we talk about screenings, we’re typically referring to  mammograms, but MRI and ultrasounds are also options.

This is a relatively new age span as the Task Force used to recommend screening starting at the age of 50. With breast cancer numbers still high, they’ve moved the starting age down to 40.

The American Cancer Society goes a step further and recommends breast cancer screenings in the form of mammograms be done every two years between the ages of 40 and 44 and then annually between the ages of 45 and 54. 

After the age of 55, they suggest testing every other year. We can discuss whether this more comprehensive screening recommendation is a good practice for you.

Risk factors for breast cancer

Now let’s get into some factors that can increase your risks for breast cancer, starting with certain genetic mutations — namely, BRCA1 and BRCA2. These are hereditary gene mutations that can be found through genetic testing.

Other risk factors include:

• An immediate family member with breast cancer
• An immediate family member with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations
• Previous history of breast cancer
• Having radiation therapy to the chest before the age of 30
• Having dense breast tissue

If any of these factors raise your risk for breast cancer to between 20% and 25%, the American Cancer Society suggests annual screening with both mammography and MRI starting at the age of 30.

In addition to these risks, other factors we can plug into the equation, such as obesity and smoking, are linked to higher breast cancer rates.

Rest assured, we’re here to help you evaluate your risks for breast cancer and come up with the best screening schedule for your circumstances.  Whatever schedule we create, know that these screenings can potentially be life-saving because early detection and treatment are key to breast cancer.

So, for a more detailed and customized breast cancer screening schedule, we’re here to help. To get started, simply contact our office in Mobile, Alabama, to set up an appointment.