Doing
More in the fight against Breast Cancer with Easy Access to
Ultrasound Technology
Easy
Access to Ultrasound Technology has been challenging and is an
important issue facing women today. Breast
cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide.( WHO)
Studies
confirm that mammography misses every other cancer in dense breasts.
(AreYouDense.org)
The problem is nearly half the female population in this country have
dense breast tissue.
Early
detection is everything in the fight against Breast Cancer.
Mammography
is recognized as the best preventative screening tool to image the
breast, but falls short when imaging women with dense breasts as its
imaging technique cannot see well through dense breast tissue.
Cancer shows up in white in mammography and so does dense breast
tissue. (It’s like trying to find a snow ball in a snowstorm.)
Ultrasound
technology is an excellent tool to image the Breast and can see
cancers that cannot be seen on a mammogram. An ultrasound images all
the way to the chest wall.
While
insurance companies can make it difficult to have access to
Ultrasound; that is unless something is seen on a Mammography
screening, and mammography misses every other cancer in women with
dense breast, (Berg,et al) women can’t get access to Ultrasound
easily.
A
Florida based company, HerScan, Inc. and the HerScan program make it
easy for women to have access to important Ultrasound whole breast
screenings, enabling women to DO MORE for their breast health regimen
toward the prevention and early detection of Breast Cancer.
The
HerScan mobile medical clinics are being offered throughout several
states, Monday - Saturday and are expanding services to provide
important access to powerful state-of-the-art Ultrasound technology,
using Board Certified Radiologists, and highly experienced RDMS
Breast specialized Sonographers, with a program that helps save
lives.
Educational
materials are provided at each HerScan Health Event, helping women
learn about dense breast tissue and the importance of asking their
doctors the question; “Do I have dense breast tissue?”. (Journal
of National Cancer Institute)
The
HerScan Cares Program was created and is available for those women
most in need, which provides free ultrasound screening.
Bridging
these technologies result in significantly higher detection rates of
breast cancer from approximately 47% to 98% than mammography alone.
(Berg, 2012) ( AreYouDense.org)
The HerScan Program bridges technologies with the addition of Easy
Access to ultrasound.
Mammography
alone is not enough for all women.
Breast Density Notification Laws by State — Breast density notification
laws have been put into effect in 27 states. A breast density
notification law requires that physicians notify women who have
undergone mammography and were found to have dense breast tissue. The
intent of such a law was to give women the necessary information to
decide on further action if they had dense breast tissue. Dense breast
tissue makes it harder to identify cancer on a mammogram and may also be
associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, according to the
American College of Radiology (ACR). Women with dense breasts are
encouraged to discuss with their physicians their possible increased
risk of breast cancer and the difficulty that mammography may have in
detecting tumors.
For
more information go to HerScan.com
References:
Berg,
WA., Zhang, Z., Lehrer, D., Jong, RA., Pisano, E.D., Barr, R.G.,
Bohm-Velez, M., Mahoney, MC., Evans, WP., Larsen, L.H., Morton, M.J.,
et al. (2012) “Detection of breast cancer with addition of annual
screening ultrasound or a single screening MRI to mammography in
women with elevated breast cancer risk. “ Journal
of American Medical Association.
April 4; 307 (13): 1394-1404.
Yaghiyan,
L., Colditz, G., Collins, L., Schnitt, S., Rosner, B., Vachon, C.,
Tamini, R. (2010) “Mammographic breast density and subsequent risk
of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.” Journal
National Cancer Institute. August
3; 103(15): 1179-1189.
World
Health Organization website:
http://www.who.int/cancer/detection/breastcancer/en/
Are
you dense website: http://www.areyoudense.org