Cancer Screening
Our office offers a wide range of cancer screening and diagnostic services for breast and cervical cancer. Early detection increases the odds that treatment will be successful.
BREAST CANCER SCREENING
There are three steps toward early diagnosis of breast cancer:
1. MAMMOGRAM
The decision to refer you for a mammogram will be based on your age and other risk factors, such as a family history of breast cancer.
2. BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION
If you do develop breast cancer, early detection and treatment increases your chance for a cure. Mammography is important, but it cannot detect all early breast abnormalities. If you examine your breasts each month, you can alert your healthcare provider to lumps and other changes that have appeared since the previous exam.
If you do not know how to examine your breasts, ask your healthcare provider to teach you, or visit this website for instructions
3. CLINICAL BREAST EXAMINATION
The Cancer Society recommends that women age 40 and over should have an annual breast exam, performed by a healthcare provider. Women age 20 to 39 should have an exam at least every three years.
Need more information? Visit this website: http://www.arbreastcare.com/core.html
Cervical Cancer Screening
PAP SMEAR
Cervical cancer often has no symptoms until it has spread, but a Pap smear makes early detection possible. Pap smears are performed routinely during a pelvic examination to identify abnormal cells from the cervix and other reproductive organs. The doctor scrapes a small amount of tissue from the cervix for examination under a microscope.
We recommend that a woman have her first Pap smear at age 21, or earlier if she is sexually active.
At some point in their lives, as many as half of all sexually-active men and women are infected with genital human papilloma virus (HPV), a virus that is known to cause cervical cancer. Gardasil®, a vaccine that protects against HPV, is now available at our office. We recommend inoculation with the vaccine as early as age nine.
More information on cancer detection is available from the American Cancer Society’s website and from the website of the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology.