The screening that is done to detect breast cancer in women is called mammograms. These tests are useful in detecting and curing cancer. However, some feel that these do more harm than good. We will now try to understand the risk of radiation and repeated mammograms.
Mammography
This will help you to get a fair idea on how these screenings are useful as well as harmful. This is a long debate. A lot of research has been done on the subject too. Some of the research results are what we will be discussing in this article.
In mammograms radiation is used to check the breasts for presence of cancer cells. It is a known fact that when a person is regularly exposed to chest cancer and radiation she stands a higher chance of getting breast cancer. This is mainly because breast cancer can spread easily when radiation is used on the body.
The women are advised that if there was a history of breast cancer in the family they have a high chance of getting the disease. The women are scared by these statements and they want to ensure that they do the mammogram regularly for early detection of breast cancer.
Some women start the same from the teenage itself. Well the latest research shows that regular exposure to mammograms from an early age can lead to more cases of breast cancer than reducing the same.
Most of the women who get breast cancer later in life have a long history of regular mammograms. Women who do not do the mammogram regularly stand a lesser chance of getting the disease. However, the doctors say that if women do not do regular mammograms it will not be possible to detect the disease on time.
Now t hat we know that mammograms actually increases the chances of breast cancer we have to look at the genetic aspect of breast cancer too. It is proved that most of the cases of breast cancer are in the family. If you are lucky you may not get it.
Mostly women get breast cancer from their family. These are the women who are extra careful and start doing the mammograms as early as possible. As they grow older their genetic programs and the regular mammograms combine together can make breast cancer common among these women. Doctors say that mammograms are essential for screening of breast cancer.
Well there are other means of screening like a self check. However, this cannot be relied upon completely and can be misleading too. Perhaps women should ensure that they do not expose themselves to mammograms as early as twenties. They must wait till they are around mid thirties at least.
Most of the cases of breast cancer are found in women who have reached mid forties. So mid thirties should be a good age to start mammograms once a year. This is for the women who have a history of breast cancer in the family. Those women who do not have any case of breast cancer in the family can also do mammograms occasionally in consultation with the doctors.
If women notice a sudden change in the breast or the nipples even before they have reached the mid thirties they must report the same to the doctors and get themselves screened. It is always better to take precautions in case of breast cancer. It can really help women deal with the disease even better.
The mammograms definitely have a long list of advantages. The only problem being that if you are regularly doing the same you may only land up increasing your chances of breast cancer. The doctors are the best judge and only they can suggest what should be a good frequency of doing mammograms in women. The mammograms have an advantage this is exactly why it is done all over the world to detect the breast cancer. We just cannot deny this fact.
The attempts are on to develop some other screening tests for breast cancer. This is mainly because mammograms have their own limitations. Moreover it is not a secret that mammograms can do more harm than good actually. Women can do self checks; maintain a better and healthier lifestyle to ensure that they have a strong immune system.
Vitamin D can be a very important factor in breast cancer treatment. This is exactly why women should increase the intake of the same. A lot of activists are working across the world to create awareness on mammograms. We too just aim at creating the same awareness so that women know more about the mammograms.
We hope that this article on the risk of radiation and repeated mammograms was informative to you. There are a lot of things that is written about this topic. There are two aspects to the topic. We cannot deny that. Perhaps it is like a necessary evil that we have to deal with in order to live a better life. We just need to be a little extra careful and keep few simple tips in mind to live a better life.
