When it comes to breast cancer, early detection can save your life. The further along your cancer is allowed to go, the worse your prognosis looks. Catch it early, and you're almost guaranteed to beat it.

Breast Cancer Early Detection

A monthly breast self-examination is a low-cost, low-fuss way to pick up on breast cancer before it gets out of control.But the best tool for finding breast cancer in its earliest stages is mammography, a form of x-ray that allows doctors to peer at the innermost structures of your breast.

In digital mammography, its newest incarnation, the picture of your breast tissue is put on a computer screen, where it can be manipulated for better image quality. This helps radiologists and physicians more readily see an area of dense tissue that may indicate a tumor.

Other detection techniques include:

• Ultrasound, which uses sound waves to look at breast tissues
• Computer-aided detection (CAD), in which the computer itself highlights suspicious areas on an image
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a radiation-free technique that relies on high-powered magnets to create an image
• Positron emission tomography (PET), which uses radioactive sugars to locate and highlight a malignancy.

Diagnosing Breast Cancer

Detection is only the first step. Just because your doctor sees something suspicious on your mammogram does not mean you have breast cancer. In fact, you should think of your breast cells as innocent until proven guilty by biopsy, a procedure in which some of the suspect cells are removed and viewed under a microscope for the tell-tale signs of malignancy.

There are four types of biopsy:

• Excisional biopsy, in which the entire lump or tissue in question is removed
• Incisional biopsy, in which only part of the lump or tissue in question is removed
• Core biopsy, in which part of the lump or tissue in question is removed using a wide needle
• Needle aspiration biopsy, in which part of the lump or tissue in question--or fluid in the breast--is removed using a very thin needle.

If the cells are deemed cancerous under the microscope, the pathologist will want to try to stage the cancer, to see how far advanced it is, and your physician may want to do an immediate surgery or a series of further tests to see if the cancerous cells have spread beyond the breast in which they were found.

See also

• Breast cancer - introduction
• Breast cancer - prevalence
• Breast cancer - prevention
• Breast cancer - causes and risk factors
• Breast cancer - treatment options
• Breast cancer - dealing with the aftermath
• Breast cancer - prognosis
• Building a support network