Breast Self-Exam and Clinical Exam

Several exams can detect breast cancer. Some are used for routine screening, and some are used when screening shows a possible abnormality or when a woman has a symptom, such as a breast lump.

Usually more than one exam is needed to diagnose breast cancer. No one method is completely reliable. Biopsy, in which some of the suspicious tissue is removed and examined under a microscope, is the most definitive test.

Breast self-exam
Experts no longer formally recommend that women routinely perform a self breast exam every month. But it should not be discouraged either, since many women first bring attention to a breast abnormality that they themselves detected. Checking your own breasts every month can be useful. You become more familiar with how your own breasts look and feel to the touch. Should a change arise, you may become aware of it sooner than if you weren't checking monthly.

If you do want to perform self breast exams, check your breasts on the same day every month, preferably seven days after your period begins. This is when the hormones from the ovaries are at their lowest levels and the breasts are least engorged. This is the best time to feel any irregularity that may be present. Women who have gone through menopause should examine their breasts on the same day each month, such as on the first day of the month.

However, you shouldn't rely on self breast exam as the only way to screen for breast cancer. By the time you can feel a lump, it's probably half an inch or larger. Mammography, a type of x-ray examination of the breast, can detect cancers of smaller sizes, even those that cannot be felt or palpated by you or your physician.

Clinical breast exam
Because mammograms fail to detect 10%-15% of breast cancers, it's important to have an annual breast examination by a doctor or other health care professional. For the clinical breast examination, you will undress from the waist up and put on a gown. The doctor will first look at your breasts for any signs of cancer and then press on your breasts with a circular or up and down technique, similar to what is described above in self breast exam. Your doctor will also check for lymph nodes under your armpit (axilla) and around your collarbone.

Next >> Mammography

In This Article:
Detecting Breast Cancer
Breast Self-Exam and Clinical Exam
Mammography
Breast Ultrasound
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Breast Ductogram
Breast Biopsy

From the Harvard Health Publications Special Health Report, Breast Cancer: Strategies for Living. Copyright 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Illustrations by Harriet Greenfield, M.A., and Jesse Tarantino. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell. Harvard Medical School does not endorse products.
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