Do not touch your hands: Do you need to inspect the chest yourself?
Text: Elena Satirova
RESPONSES TO THE MAJORITY OF US QUESTIONSwe are all used to searching online. In this series of materials we ask precisely such questions - burning, unexpected or widespread - to professionals in various fields.
There is a popular opinion that you need to regularly inspect and feel the chest yourself in order to identify dangerous changes in time. On the Internet, you can even find detailed instructions with pictures, but does this examination replace a visit to a doctor? How do you need to monitor the health of the breast? We asked these questions to a specialist.
Elena Satirova
oncologist, mammologist
- It is believed that if you regularly examine the breast on your own, you can catch breast cancer at an early stage. The problem is that it is possible to grope with an education no less than a centimeter in size, and the focus of breast cancer may initially be limited to a few millimeters. Therefore, it is important to remember that self-examination does not replace a preventive approach to a doctor. Unfortunately, there are cases when a woman believes that an ultrasound scan is not necessary, because when she is feeling, she does not find anything unusual - as a result, the disease may not be detected in time. One of the most reputable cancer organizations in the world - the American Society of Clinical Oncology - recommends that doctors, teaching patients self-examination, explain and its possible harm. Women who regularly examine their breasts on their own may be overly optimistic and skip planned ultrasounds or mammography.
Self-examination of the mammary glands is not effective for diagnosing cancer at an early stage. In addition, it leads to significantly more biopsies with negative results (without detecting cancer). This is traumatic both for the psyche of a woman who is nervous while waiting for a response, and physically, because any puncture may lead to the formation of hematomas and inflammatory processes. According to many studies and meta-analysis, self-examination of the breast does not reduce mortality from breast cancer.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to examine the chest yourself. At the same time, a woman should answer herself only one question: "Is everything in my chest as it was last month?" The most frequent manifestations that should be strained are the presence of a node, a change in the skin above it, edema of the skin, nipple retraction, lymph node enlargement in the armpit, blood from the nipple. Any education in the breast or discharge from the nipple is an unconditional reason to go to the mammologist, oncologist, or at least a gynecologist, without delaying the visit until better times.
Conducting self-examination, do not panic: "And what if I find something?" Be sure and calm: "If I find something, I can get help on time." This is just a preventive procedure such as brushing your teeth. Most of the changes found in the mammary gland are benign, such as mastopathy. It can be diffuse when there is no clear knot in the chest, but there is a general heterogeneity. This is due, as a rule, to an imbalance of the hormonal background, when fibrous, glandular and adipose tissues are in the wrong proportions. Cyst formation is also associated with hormonal imbalance, and mastodynia - puffiness in the second phase of the cycle, the so-called engorgement of glands before menstruation. All of these conditions are not dangerous, but can cause discomfort and cause further problems. Any breast condition other than the norm, including cysts, pain and soreness before menstruation, should be discussed with a specialist and treated.
Do not panic: "What if I find something?" Be sure and calm: "If I find something, I can get help on time."
Another, more dangerous manifestation of mastopathy is the nodular form; it is potentially dangerous and requires careful monitoring by a doctor. The presence of fibroadenoma, confirmed by ultrasound, mammography and cytology, requires mandatory annual monitoring. Nodes up to two centimeters, which grow slowly, are treated with drugs, and larger or growing tumors quickly need to be treated surgically. After removing the node, its composition is studied under a microscope; at the same time it is possible to reveal atypical cells, that is a precancerous condition.
Even if you regularly examine your chest and do not bother you, doctors should still be treated for prevention. Women from nineteen to thirty-five should have an ultrasound examination of the breast and regional lymph nodes once a year. After thirty-five and forty-five years, in addition to the annual ultrasound every two years, you need to do a mammogram. Then the density of the mammary gland decreases, and you no longer need to do an ultrasound scan — enough annual mammography. After these examinations, it is imperative that you look for a mammologist.
It is important that tests for tumor markers in the framework of clinical examination is not necessary. As for heredity, then if a woman of the genus (on any line) had breast, ovarian, endometrial, stomach, colon cancer, it makes sense to consult oncogenetics in any major cancer or genetic center and in its direction to analyze for mutations some genes. Separately, I note that pregnant women are increasingly becoming oncologists patients. Know that the doctor should not brush off the problems with the breasts of women during pregnancy or lactation and blame everything on lactostasis and hormonal explosion.
Of course, in everything there should be a measure. Carcinophobia (fear of cancer) can take the form of two extremes: hypochondria, when a person finds all possible and impossible diagnoses, and "ostrich syndrome", when, on the contrary, even obvious changes in the body occur. Adhere to the golden mean: consult doctors in time and undergo timely examinations.
Photo: somkanokwan - stock.adobe.com, Eskymaks - stock.adobe.com