Mammogram Alternatives

Does anyone have any advice on alternative screening for breast cancer? For some reason I find mammograms to be the worst sort of torture, maybe because I am so small chested. You just can't stretch so little material out over such a large plate!!

At any rate I'm hoping there are some good alternatives as I would like to have a screening once a year (I am 57).

Thanks...Cici

An excellent alternative appears to be the Anti-malignan Antibody Serum (AMAS) test. You can find information about it on the internet. You may have to beat your Doctor over the head to get him/her to prescribe/order it.

Noland

I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer June 10, 2004 and had a radical masectomy on June 16th. I have faithfully had a mammogram since I was 45 and I am now 54.

I didn't understand why my mammogram in October '03 was read as being fine and yet I was a Stage IV in June of '04 when I found a lump under my arm. My mammogram in '96 was misread and all subsequent readings are based on the previous reading.

I would suggest an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). It is much more thorough, completely painless and it is less costly than a mammogram. There is currently a battle going on with the government and insurance companies as to why women can't have an MRI which would be less costly to insurance companies!!???

Whatever method you use, make sure that you look at your films. Ask questions if you see ANYTHING on your films. Good Luck! :) cmm

Hi there,  I hear that thermography is a good alternative to mammograms.  I just turned 40 and I am scare to go for a mammogram, so I've been doing some research on alternatives and thus far this is the better alternative I can find.  Take a look at this site www.meditherm.com.  Good luck, Tanya

I heard on the news that there is a less painful (smarter) way of doing things. They actually "pull/suck" the breast out evenly into an opening instead of "smashing" them flat.. torture is right! Big, little it don't matter ..OUCH!!

Be Blessed

De (40.5yrs mams every year since 35.5yrs)

Hi,

I know you asked this question long ago but I found a new alternative for mammography that is in tests yet but I hope they will get that on the market very fast because I am 41 and never did a mammography because it "freaks me out" just the thought of squeezing my breasts flat! I saw the pictures, it gets like a pancake!!! 

I wanted to know who was the person how invented mammography. Certainly is NOT a woman. Shouldn't someone find an easer way? Now they did find it, but there are a lot of studies and a lot of bureaucracy to go through yet. Hope they get it out there faster, I need to start screening my breasts!

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/pr/current_research/Cone_Beam/

I'll have to agree that mammagrams are not particularly pleasant, but "torture"?  It is an unpleasant occurance that lasts a mere few minutes - worse for some than for others, I'll grant you, but I find it incredibly sad that woman who should be getting regular mammagrams are "freaked out" and terrified because they listen to stories about how horrible it is.  If you can find an easier way to get your breasts screened, do it, and good luck to you.  If you can't, for goodness' sake schedule a mammagram, and don't listen to the doom and gloom naysayers who like to frighten people.

Rose

DANGERS OF SCREENING MAMMOGRAPHY Mammography poses a wide range of risks of which women worldwide still remain uninformed. Radiation Risks Radiation from routine mammography poses significant cumulative risks of initiating and promoting breast cancer (1- 3). Contrary to conventional assurances that radiation exposure from mammography is trivial- and similar to that from a chest X-ray or spending one week in Denver, about 1/ 1,000 of a rad (radiation-absorbed dose)- the routine practice of taking four films for each breast results in some 1,000-fold greater exposure, 1 rad, focused on each breast rather than the entire chest (2). Thus, premenopausal women undergoing annual screening over a ten-year period are exposed to a total of about 10 rads for each breast. As emphasized some three decades ago, the premenopausal breast is highly sensitive to radiation, each rad of exposure increasing breast cancer risk by 1 percent, resulting in a cumulative 10 percent increased risk over ten years of premenopausal screening, usually from ages 40 to 50 (4); risks are even greater for "baseline" screening at younger ages, for which there is no evidence of any future relevance. Furthermore, breast cancer risks from mammography are up to fourfold higher for the 1 to 2 percent of women who are silent carriers of the A-T (ataxia-telangiectasia) gene and thus highly sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of radiation (5); by some estimates this accounts for up to 20 percent of all breast cancers annually in the United States (6). Cancer Risks from Breast Compression As early as 1928, physicians were warned to handle "cancerous breasts with care- for fear of accidentally disseminating cells" and spreading cancer (7). Nevertheless, mammography entails tight and often painful compression of the breast, particularly in premenopausal women. This may lead to distant and lethal spread of malignant cells by rupturing small blood vessels in or around small, as yet undetected breast cancers (8). If you would like to read the full text on this issue please send me a private message as the website will be disallowed on this board.

Okay, I'm sorry, but I can not stand it anymore!  As a registered Mammo tech, I will tell you that it is NOT four pictures of each breast-- it is TWO. Four pics TOTAL!  As for the pain, well. it is different for everyone and the exposure takes mere seconds though it feels like an eternity.  This whole thing of the amount of radiation you receive is why you wait 12 months.  Most insurance companies will not pay if you try to go ONE day before 365 days.(Unless you need follow up work).  Radiologic technology has evolved tremendously since 1928 so I would not hesitate to get a test done especially if it shows calcifications that a ultrasound or MRI will not show.  Thermography can't localize it.  And just know that if you go spend a day at the beach-- forget about the amount of rads you get from a mammogram!  If I should ever have the pleasure of performing your test-- please don't ask about any new test because until the FDA approves it-- it ain't gonna happen!

I have had many many mammograms and they smart a little, but believe me, nothing hurts like breast cancer.... The hurt with a mammogram is short lived, the hurt from breast cancer hurts for a long time....  PLEASE get your mammograms !!! Don't listen to the stories about the pain.... Remeber one thing, you might be saving your own life....

Lorraine