What are the items in breast health examination

Routine breast health examinations now mainly cover four levels: home self-examination, clinical evaluation, imaging examination, and pathological diagnosis. You don’t need to do the full set every time, just choose according to your own situation.

Many sisters around me who are concerned about health have the habit of self-examination at home. In fact, there is no need to learn any complicated techniques. 7 to 10 days after each menstrual period, the hormone level is relatively stable. Stand in front of the mirror and look at the breasts on both sides for asymmetry, inexplicable sunken skin, or orange peel-like changes. Then slowly press in a clockwise circle with your fingertips to feel for any abnormal lumps. Squeeze the nipple lightly to see if there is any bloody or yellow-green discharge. But I have to say in advance that self-examination can only detect obvious abnormalities and cannot replace professional screening. I met a 28-year-old girl before. She felt nothing during the self-examination. However, a color ultrasound examination at the unit found a small nodule less than 1 cm. It was because the nodule was deep and could not be touched by herself.

If you really feel something abnormal, have uncomfortable symptoms, or go to the hospital at the screening age, the doctor usually does clinical palpation first. An experienced specialist can basically make a preliminary judgment on the mobility, boundary, and hardness of the lump by touching it. Last time, I accompanied my 32-year-old best friend to check the breast. She felt a hard lump and was so scared that she suffered from insomnia for several days. After palpation, the doctor said that the boundary was clear and pushable, and it was most likely a hyperplastic nodule. Please relax first.

Most people will order breast ultrasound next. The breast glands of women under 35 years old are relatively dense. Ultrasound can clearly see small nodules, cysts, and fibroids. There is no radiation, so it can be done with confidence during pregnancy preparation and pregnancy. If you are over 40 years old, or have a family history of breast cancer or have had high-risk factors such as breast atypical hyperplasia before, doctors will generally recommend additional mammography. There are currently different opinions in the industry about the frequency of mammography screening. The American Cancer Society recommends that high-risk people over 45 years old should do it once a year. Domestic clinical studies also suggest that for ordinary women without high-risk factors, it is enough to do it once every two years. After all, mammography has a certain amount of radiation, so over-examination is not necessary. There is no need to follow foreign standards.

Breast magnetic resonance imaging is used only when suspicious lesions are found by ultrasound and mammography and the nature is uncertain. This project is very sensitive and can detect very early small lesions, but it is expensive and prone to false positives. There is no need to use it as a routine screening project. I met a girl before who had to order the most expensive MRI for physical examination, but the result was a false positive. I was anxious for more than half a month, but nothing happened after the re-examination. It was purely a false alarm.

If the BI-RADS classification of the nodule is above Category 4 and malignant according to the imaging evaluation, a pathological examination is required, either by puncture to collect some diseased tissue, or direct excision and biopsy. This is the gold standard for judging whether the lesion is benign or malignant. There was a 47-year-old aunt who found clusters of calcifications on the physical examination mammography. She was originally prepared for surgery, but the puncture result showed that it was benign ductal dilation. She became red-eyed on the spot and said that her heart that had been hanging around for almost a month had finally settled.

In fact, you don’t need to be anxious when you think of a breast examination, and you don’t have to do it because it’s expensive. Just choose a suitable item based on your age, symptoms, and family history.