Mammograms and breast cancer - What You Need To Know About - Pamphlet

If you are 40 or older you are at risk for breast cancer. A mammogram each 1-2 years can help find this disease early and can lower your chances of dying of breast cancer.

What Do I Ne to Know?

Breast cancer is the greatest in quantity common cancer among women in the United States. In 2001 an estimated 192200 American women were diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time and 40200 women died from the disease.

If you are 40 or older you are at risk for breast cancer. A mammogram each 1-2 years can help find this disease early and can lower your chances of dying of breast cancer.

Who Should Have Regular Mammograms?

The higher your risk of breast cancer, the more likely you are to benefit from regular mammograms. Your risk of breast cancer increases with your age after age 40 Among other factors that increase your risk is having a sister or mother who has breast cancer.

Are There Any Drawbacks to Mammograms?

Mammograms may not find all breast cancers. Also, they may recommend that you have cancer when you really do not. These false-positive proceeds could lead to unnecessary trials or surgery.

What Should I Do?

Ask your doctor, supply with nourishment or other health care provider whether you should have regular mammograms and by what means often.

Background

The What You Ne To Know series provides a summary of recommendations from the work of the U Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), sponsored through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The USPSTF is an independent panel of ables in the fields of family medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, pediatrics, nursing, prevention research, and psychology The Task Force reviews research upon a wide range of preventive services, including screening, counseling, and using medications to impede disease, then makes recommendations for the public.

This fact sheet is part of bring Prevention Into Practice (PPIP), a national program sponsored by means of AHRQ to increase the delivery of USPSTF-recommended clinical preventive services in the primary care setting. fix upon for more information about PPIP and PPIP tools.

For More Information

To order more copies of this fact sheet or other PPIP material for patients, clinicians, or office a whole s call the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse:

Phone: 1-800-358-9295

Outside the United States: (410) 381-3150

Toll-free TDD service; hearing impaired only: 888-586-6340

AHRQ Publication Number APPIP 02-0014 rife as of February 2002

Internet Citation:

What You Ne To Know About Mammograms and Breast Cancer. Fact Sheet. AHRQ Publication Number APPIP 02-0014 February 2002 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/brcneed2.htm

COPYRIGHT 2002 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group