Screening for Breast Cancer
Baptist Health Corbin: Screening for Breast Cancer
Radiologist LONNIE J. BARGO, MD explains how advanced technology such as 3D tomosynthesis helps physicians detect breast cancer earlier when it is at a very treatable stage.
Screening for Breast Cancer Health Talks Transcript
Lonnie J. Bargo, MD
The American College of Radiology, which is the governing body over breast imaging, does still recommend that females start getting breast cancer screening with mammograms at age 40, and continue to get those yearly. With 3D tomography of the breast, we’re actually obtaining more images that allow us to put together a more complete 3D picture of the breast tissue, allow us to accurately detect breast cancers within the breast, and decrease the rate of callbacks for other diagnostic imaging. By decreasing those numbers of callbacks, we take away that emotional stress, but also decrease any discomfort that goes along with those further diagnostic tests. Here at the breast center, we do offer what we would consider a complete complement to the 3D breast imaging, and we also offer focused breast ultrasound and any type of breast biopsy that’s required. We can do those here. As well, we do offer breast MRI. We also have a bone densitometry unit, which allows us to look at bone mineral density and determine if the patient is at high risk for fracture. Early detection is extremely important because breast cancer becomes a very treatable disease at an early stage.
