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Women's Health Services Breast Self-Exam
The term has been used to describe just about any kind of breast thickening, tenderness, lumpiness or other symptoms. But these are variations of normal breasts, in fact, fibrocystic "disease" is clearly not a disease, says Northrup. True "fibrocystic changes" are actually limited to a very small number of these conditions and can only be identified by a pathologist examining breast tissue. Most women with breast cysts do not have an increased risk of developing breast cancer and need only to have the cysts treated. Any lump or thickening in the breast, however, should certainly be checked by your physician. And monthly breast self-examination (starting in your 20s) coupled with mammography is not only the best way to find a lump early, but also the best way to learn what "normal" means in terms of your own breasts. Annual examination by your physician and mammography by age 40, according to the American Cancer Society, are strongly advised for prevention of breast cancer.
SOURCES: Christian Northrup, MD: Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (Bantam Books) and the Merck Manual of Medical Information. Women’s Health
Services The Health Alliance continues to be a leader in women’s health issues using a multidisciplinary approach to the specific care of women. Through the collaborative efforts of each of our hospitals throughout the Health Alliance, patients and their families receive the most comprehensive and highest quality women’s care available. Our continued commitment to provide the best possible patient care includes clinical research studies, programs of disease prevention, women’s health information services, commitment to community services and outreach activities, programs of research training, and continuing education for health care professionals. For more information on the wide variety of women’s services available, please call our toll free number, 1-888-640-CARE.
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Almost three-quarters of
women have been told by a healthcare provider that they have
"fibrocystic disease," a diagnosis based on finding breast pain,
cysts, and noncancerous lumpy areas in their breasts. This diagnosis
seemed to be rampant about two decades ago. But a study by the National
Cancer Association Consensus Committee discovered that about 80% of what
is called "fibrocystic disease" is actually normal changes in
breast anatomy and is NOT associated with breast cancer, says Christian
Northrup, MD, author of "Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom."
