Instructions
1. Visit your health care practitioner for a complete physical examination, including a breast examination. Depending on the results and your risk factors, discuss the possibility of the use of ultrasound for early breast cancer detection with your doctor.
2. Ask your doctor to provide a referral to have an ultrasound taken, if your examination and medical history warrant it. The referral should be in writing and indicate the specific reason for having the ultrasound done (such as the discovery of an questionable lump or other irregularity).
3. Feel confident in the use of ultrasound to detect breast cancer since it does not involve the use of radiation, which can have a cumulative effect and present certain risks. In addition, women report a preference for ultrasound screening since the breasts are not compressed as they are during a mammogram, which can be uncomfortable.
4. Be aware that ultrasound uses acoustic impedance, which measures the density of specific tissue, as well as the velocity of the wavelength around the tissue. This reveals shape and texture, whereas a mammogram only produces shadows in response to density.
5. Expect that your doctor should be able to determine whether a mass or lump found in breast tissue is malignant or benign from the use of ultrasound in most cases. Mammography cannot make this distinction.
Tags: breast cancer, breast cancer, detect breast, , your doctor