• Women aged 40 and older should have a screening mammogram and a clinical breast examination (CBE) by a health care professional every year. The CBE should be scheduled close to and preferably before the scheduled mammogram.
• Women between the ages of 20 and 39 should have a clinical breast examination by a health professional every 3 years.
• Women aged 20 or older should perform breast self-examination (BSE) every month. By doing the exam regularly, you get to know how your breasts normally feel, and you can more readily detect any change.

Dr. Suzanne Hruza is a radiologist with the Alegent Health Breast Care Center. Find out more about Dr. Hruza If a change occurs, such as development of a lump or swelling in the breast or underarm area, skin irritation or dimpling, nipple pain or retraction (turning inward), redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin, or you have a discharge other than breast milk, you should see your doctor as soon as possible for evaluation. Remember that most of the time these breast changes are not cancer.

Breast self-examination (BSE) How to Perform a Breast Self-Exam

By doing a breast self-exam regularly, you get to know how your breasts normally feel and you can more readily detect any signs or symptoms. You may subscribe to a FREE service by Alegent Health to send you a monthly e reminder to perform your breast self-exam .

A clinical breast examination (CBE)

During an examination of your breasts by a health care professional, such as a doctor, nurse practitioner, nurse, or doctor's assistant, special attention will be given to the shape and texture of the breasts, location of any lumps, and whether such lumps are attached to the skin or to deeper tissues. The area under both arms will also be examined.

Mammogram Alegent Health Breast Care Center Locations

A mammogram   is an x-ray of the breast. During a mammogram, the breast is pressed for a few seconds between 2 plates to flatten and spread the tissue. An image is produced which is read by a radiologist who will look for the following types of changes:

• Calcifications, or mineral deposits within the breast tissue appear as small white spots on the film and can occur singly or in clusters. They indicate changes within the breast and can be either carefully watched by additional, periodic mammograms or examined by biopsy. Calcifications are most often caused by benign breast conditions, and less often by breast cancer.
• A mass is another change that can be detected by a mammogram. The mass could be a cysts, fibroadenoma, or many other things, but they could be cancer and usually should be biopsied unless they are fluid-filled cysts.
• A cyst, fluid in a small sac in the breast, can feel like a lump and is usually soft. Aspiration, removal of the fluid with a needle, or a breast ultrasound will be used to determine if the mass or lump is a cyst. Cysts are almost never cancerous, but if the image from the ultrasound reveals features that are characteristic of cancer, fluid removed from the cyst will be examined to look for malignant cells.