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 In The News |
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| In The News |
| -By CYNTHIA BULLION / Desoto Times News Staff |
SOUTHAVEN - The way doctors screen women for breast cancer is evolving.
Dr. Jason Morris, with Desoto Imaging Specialists in Southaven, said improvements in technology are helping doctors better diagnose and treat breast cancer.
“It's gotten good enough that we can take pictures of a breast digitally,” he said about digital mammography. “We can manipulate (the images) to see cancer easier.”
Furthermore, digital images of breast tissue can be analyzed through a computer program.
“We can let the computer take a look at a mammogram and compare notes,” he said about computer-aided detection. “It increases our ability to pick up cancer.”
Though mammography - both traditional and digital forms - is the most commonly used screening for breast cancer, Morris said ultrasound technology sometimes is used to evaluate areas of the breast not clear in a mammogram.
“Cancer can't hide as well (when you do an ultrasound),” he said about the technique.
According to the National Cancer Institute, ultrasound technology is a valuable supplement to mammography but not a substitute. Ultrasound does not consistently detect early signs of cancer such as microcalcifications - or calcium deposits.
Another imaging technology used detecting breast cancer is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Morris said.
“There is no radiation with an MRI like a mammogram and it can detect lesions as small as three millimeters,” he said.
Becoming more widely used in breast cancer detection, MRIs may be valuable for screening younger women with a high risk for breast cancer, according to the institute. The technology is sometimes useful when imaging dense breast tissue - common in young women - and abnormalities not visible through mammography or ultrasound.
Morris said many young women should not worry about being screened for breast cancer unless they have a strong family history of the disease.
“The chance of having breast cancer at a young age is very low,” he said. “Typically, a woman should get her first mammogram at 40 (years old).”
However, Morris said it is important for young women to conduct self breast exams, becoming familiar with their breasts' consistency, possibly preventing future screening scares.
Furthermore, Morris said women should not think of unclear or questionable mammogram screenings as a death sentence.
“When you get called back for more images, it doesn't mean you have cancer,” he said. “We just want to clarify the issue, take another look. Technology still isn't 100 percent.”
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