Health

Touchy-Feely

by Heather Miller

The medical community debates whether breast self-exams are worth the time.
Just how effective are self breast examinations when it comes to early detection of breast cancer and improving the mortality rate for women who contract it?
The medical community debates whether breast self-exams are worth the time.

Just how effective are self breast examinations when it comes to early detection of breast cancer and improving the mortality rate for women who contract it?

It's a topic that's been hotly debated over the past few years, according to the nonprofit breastcancer.org that works to educate women on the deadly disease, so much so that the American Cancer Society has even labeled self breast exams as an "optional" tool for screening breast cancer in women. The nonprofit website cites a 2008 study done on roughly 400,000 women in Russia and China that concluded self examinations not only did nothing to decrease the mortality rate, they also added complications to breast cancer patients by urging biopsies that may have been unnecessary.

But Women's and Children's Hospital breast surgeon Dr. Tyshaun James-Hart is quick to counter that "knowing your body and being able to identify any changes and address them as soon as possible is never optional."

"My colleagues and I don't consider it optional," says James-Hart, who generally recommends monthly self exams for her patients. "It's about being proactive and knowing what the changes are. Every change doesn't mean cancer. There are a lot of benign issues that can be addressed and resolved. If the doctor says to you, I feel this' or I see this. How long has it been there?' You don't want to have to say, I don't know. I never noticed it before.' That's important for everyone."

Like James-Hart, breastcancer.org stands behind the assertion that self exams play a critical role in battling the disease, maintaining that 20 percent of breast cancer cases are found through a physical examination rather than a mammogram. To coincide with national Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the following are the five steps of a self breast examination, as outlined through breastcancer.org: