Advertisement Don’t tell that to Jodi Ragner, a 37-year-old La Crosse woman with a family history of breast cancer, and many other women. Those exams saved their lives.
“I encourage women to do self-exams all the time,” Ragner said. “I did and it saved my life totally.”
The study, which is prompting an ongoing debate about the screenings, said monthly breast self-exams recommended by doctors for years have not lowered the death rate and have led to many unnecessary biopsies.
The Cochrane Collaboration study looked at nearly 400,000 women in China and Russia who were taught to check their breasts monthly for tumors and lumps.
Ragner started self-exams and mammograms at age 30 because of her family history: Her mother was successfully treated for breast cancer and her grandmother died from breast cancer.
In January 2006, Ragner said, she felt an “odd sensation” on the left side near her breast. A time later, while checking her left breast, she felt a lump.
A mammogram and ultrasound indicated a suspected cancerous lump, which was confirmed through a biopsy. She underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
“I’ve been on guard with my family history and did self-exams routinely because I wanted to catch any cancer as early as possible,” Ragner said.
Dr. Richard L. Ellis, a Gundersen Lutheran clinical breast radiologist, said 80 percent to 85 percent of breast cancers are picked up by mammogram. That leaves 15 percent to 20 percent that need to be detected by patients and physicians through exams.
Ellis emphasized the sooner the cancer is detected, the better the outcome for women.
“Whether the cancer is detected early by mammogram, breast self-exams or voodoo, it doesn’t make a difference as long as it is picked up as soon as one can,” Ellis said.
Dr. Kathleen Christian, a Franciscan Skemp breast surgeon, said many women feel a breast lump between annual mammograms.
“It is still important to do the self-exams because mammograms don’t pick all the cancers,” Christian said. “There’s a significant population that can benefit from self-exams.”
She said women should learn the proper techniques to conduct self-exams to increase their chances of feeling a lump.
“There are good studies which show the more educated women are, the more they become more comfortable with self-exams and they improve,” Christian said.
Mammograms don’t always pick up breast cancer in women in their 40s due to their dense breasts, and self-exams could play a more important role for that age group, she said.
Christian said she will continue to recommend monthly breast self-exams for patients.
“Women should be aware of their breast tissue, and I encourage them to do self-exams on a regular schedule,” she said.
Ellis said even if the death rate is not reduced, self-exams can make a difference in treatment and quality of life. But he said breast self-exams are not easy to perform well, and women have to be motivated to do them.
“For women who are motivated and interested in learning to perform monthly breast self-examinations, we do everything to educate them and train them to perform the best exam as possible,” he said.
Good breast cancer detection should focus on medical history, physical examination and imaging studies such as mammograms and ultrasound, Ellis said.
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com, or (608) 791-8227
