Breast Health Facts from Corbin, KY

Breast Health Facts from Corbin, KY Healthtalk Transcript

Amy Higgins, MD, Internal Medicine
Baptist Health Corbin

Amy Higgins, MD:
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, and the second leading cause of cancer death among American women. One in every 8 women will get breast cancer in their lifetime.

Mammograms are considered the gold standard test because they have proven to be the only test that reduces mortality in breast cancer diagnosis. [This] is because they can detect breast cancer earlier than any other study. Mammograms have gone from plain X-rays to 3D tomosynthesis, where basically it takes one-millimeter cuts of each image and compiles them together into a 3D image, allowing a better view of the breast. [This] has improved the quality of our breast imaging and our ability to detect earlier breast cancers.

Breast cancer is a survivable cancer. This is one that really is a preventable cancer, and is something we have had several young people and older people live a long time with. It is not something that is necessarily a death sentence. This is a disease that is curable, and we really should look at it that way. I want to encourage patients to not be afraid to seek out care and screening for these kinds of diseases, because this is something that you could be treated for and still have a long, meaningful life and not have to live with.

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