Bluffton resident Brenda Blue isn’t one to take chances. Despite having no family history of breast cancer, the 64-year-old Pritchardville Elementary School principal has unfailingly followed the American Cancer Society’s recommendation to have an annual mammogram.
“I’m always telling people not to put it off,” Blue says. “You want to do everything you can to detect breast cancer early when it’s most treatable.”
Automated Breast Ultrasound: Additional Screening for Dense Breasts
The annual screening became even more important to her when she learned she had dense breasts, a condition that makes Blue four to six times more likely to develop breast cancer.
Some 40% of women in the U.S. have dense breasts, which means their breasts have a greater amount of glandular and fibrous connective tissue than fat tissue. It is a risk factor for cancer — and the risk increases with increasing breast density.
Read More: Breast Cancer Screening for Women With Dense Breasts
In addition, mammograms can be harder to read in women with dense breasts because it is more difficult to distinguish tumors from dense breast tissue in the X-ray images. As a result, mammograms can be more likely to miss cancer.
So, when Blue was offered the opportunity to have a new ultrasound screening specifically developed to help doctors find cancer hidden in dense breast tissue, she didn’t hesitate to have the test. The new technology – Invenia™ Automated Breast Ultrasound System (ABUS) – became available this summer at Beaufort Memorial Breast Health Center.
“I was one of the first women to have it done in Beaufort,” Blue says. “It was a very positive experience. The screening doesn’t hurt, and it didn’t take very long.”
Learning From Personal Experience
Blue became a staunch advocate for early detection after watching one of her friends undergo the long and difficult treatment process for advanced breast cancer. The friend, she says, had not had a mammogram for five years before the cancer was diagnosed.
“It wasn’t until her left breast became red and swollen that she went in to have it checked,” Blue recounts. “By then, it had spread to her other breast. She had to have chemo, surgery and radiation treatments. It was hell.”
Read More: Know Your Lemons – How to Do a Breast Self-Exam
The new ABUS technology serves as a supplemental screening to annual 3D mammograms. At Beaufort Memorial Breast Health Center, you can have both performed in the same visit.
ABUS requires a physician order, so women with dense breasts should discuss it with their OB-GYN or primary care provider before scheduling the screening.
“You can’t let fear keep you from getting tested,” Blue says. “For women who have dense breasts like me, I would encourage them to have both screenings. If they find cancer, the treatment could be very different than if it is detected at a later stage.”
To schedule a mammogram and/or ABUS screening at Beaufort Memorial Breast Health Center, call 843-522-5015.