Breast Cancer Screening in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow

Breast cancer screening is a test for women who feel well and have no breast symptoms, done to find a cancer early if one is there. Cancers found early are generally easier to treat, and that is the reason for screening.

Screening has limits, and it is fairer to know them. It does not prevent breast cancer. It can miss a cancer, particularly in dense breasts. It can also pick up changes that need extra tests and then turn out to be harmless. A call-back can be worrying, but it is a normal part of how screening works.

Screening is not the same as checking a symptom. If you have noticed a change, do not wait for a screening date: go straight to an examination. For a lump, see breast lump evaluation.

The age to start and the gap between screens are not the same for everyone. Guidelines differ between countries and medical bodies, and they also depend on personal risk, so no single age fits every woman. Your doctor will advise you.

These are the points your doctor takes into account:

• Your age, because the balance of benefit and risk changes with age.
• Family history: a mother, sister or daughter with breast cancer, or relatives with ovarian cancer.
• Your own breast history: an earlier breast biopsy that showed certain changes, or earlier radiotherapy to the chest.
• Breast density, which can hide small changes on a mammogram. See dense breast imaging.
• A known gene change in the family, such as BRCA, if you or a relative have had genetic testing.

Women at higher risk are sometimes advised to begin earlier or to have extra imaging, such as a breast ultrasound or an MRI. We do not have an MRI scanner, so your doctor will say where to have one done, and we can review the images.

One relative with breast cancer does not mean you will get it, and most women who develop breast cancer have no close relative with it. The picture changes when several relatives are affected, when a relative was diagnosed young, or when ovarian cancer appears in the same family.

Tell your doctor what you know: who was affected, how they are related to you and roughly how old they were. That is more useful than a simple yes or no. Your doctor may suggest earlier screening, extra imaging or a talk with a genetic counsellor.

Mammography is the standard screening test. Each breast is imaged with a low dose of radiation. Some women have 3D mammography, which takes the pictures in layers, and some have a breast ultrasound added when their breasts are dense. Your doctor decides, and not everyone needs more than a mammogram.

An examination by a doctor, and knowing how your own breasts look and feel, are also useful. Neither replaces a mammogram, and a mammogram does not replace noticing a change. Report anything new, even soon after a normal screen.

You are asked to come back for more tests, and most women who are called back turn out not to have cancer. This is the usual path, so it helps to know it in advance.

• More pictures: extra mammogram views of the area, or a breast ultrasound.
• A needle test: if the pictures cannot settle it, a small sample of cells or tissue is taken with a needle, as in breast FNAC or breast biopsy.
• Follow-up: some findings are probably harmless and are scanned again after a few months.
• Your doctor: the report goes to the doctor who referred you. If a cancer is found, a breast surgeon or an oncologist plans the treatment. Cancers found at screening are often small, and small cancers are generally easier to treat.