By Nimit Sudan, MD
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and you’re likely seeing pink ribbons everywhere. But why do people wear a pink ribbon, and what does it mean? The pink ribbon is meant to spread the message that a breast cancer screening tool, called mammography, saves lives, and that all women should be screened for breast cancer once they reach a certain age – often between 40 and 50 years old.
Here are three things to keep in mind when it comes to breast cancer screening:
1. Breast cancer screening works. This is a fact. Other than skin cancer, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer and the most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide. The majority of breast cancer diagnoses in the United States are the result of an abnormal imaging study. A significant number of cases are also brought to a doctor’s attention by the patient after a self-examination. This means that we catch breast cancer with regular screening.
2. Mammography helps catch cancer early, when it is more treatable: The risk of dying from breast cancer has dropped since the 1980s. While much of this drop is due to better treatments, catching cancer at earlier stages, when cure rates are better, has contributed as well. Mammograms can detect disease that cannot yet be felt by the patient or their doctor. This is important because when breast cancer has grown large enough to feel as a lump, the disease has usually advanced to a stage that is more difficult to treat. When you catch cancer early, it is more treatable and curable than if it’s detected later. Studies confirm that screening mammograms reduce the overall chances of dying from breast cancer.
3.It’s normal to worry, but worth pushing past your fears to be screened: For many of us, completing medical tests and imaging studies can be scary.
I remember a few years ago when I had an upper respiratory infection that would not go away. My doctor ordered a chest X-ray to make sure that it was nothing more serious. Even though I am healthy and have never had any real health issues — and I am a doctor who knows the facts and statistics — my mind started racing when I was standing in front of the X-ray machine. What if I had an unusual type of pneumonia? What if the radiologist saw something unexpected, like cancer? I can understand the fear some women feel when they undergo a screening mammography. But it’s important to remind yourself that mammograms save lives, and avoiding your breast cancer screening can be deadly.
So, embrace the pink ribbon! Get your mammogram, and tell your sister, your mother, your daughter and your friends to get theirs too. Breast cancer screening saves lives.
Dr. Nimit Sudan is a board-certified hematologist/ oncologist who practices both in Encino and Santa Clarita at UCLA Health Hematology/ Oncology. His Encino office is located at 15503 Ventura Blvd., Suite150. For more information, visit uclahealth.org/community- cancercare/encino or call (818) 995-8044.
