In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dr. Cameron Coker, Breast Surgeon at Mission Health’s Hope Women’s Cancer Center, is giving you three reasons to not skip your mammogram appointment:
1. Mammograms can detect breast cancer before symptoms begin.
Approximately one in eight women will be diagnosed with female breast cancer at some point in their life. That’s why having the ability to detect breast cancer through routine mammograms (prior to feeling identifiable lumps) can be life-saving.
2. Routine mammograms help identify smaller, earlier stage breast cancers.
Good news: 99% of patients survive at least five years after diagnosis if symptoms are caught early. Routine mammograms can catch breast cancer during earlier stages by identifying smaller, harder-to-notice lumps or abnormalities.
3. Early stage patients may potentially avoid more aggressive therapies like chemotherapy.
Patients with smaller lumps have more surgical options like targeted therapy, radiation therapy, lumpectomy + more. Surgeries during later stages often require breast reconstruction.
