Dallas County Living Well Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 26

Breast Cancer
from the Inside Out
By Vance Dell, MD, FACR; Cooper Clinic

O

ne in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at
some point during her lifetime. Roughly 40,000 women in
the United States will die of the disease this year. This common cancer is treatable and beatable, especially when detected early. Vance Dell, MD, FACR, is a radiologist at Cooper
Clinic who specializes in mammography. He is trained to spot even the
slightest abnormality within breast tissue depicted in a mammogram, and his unique perspective on breast cancer offers facts and advice that often fly under the radar when it comes to
the disease.
The American Cancer Society (ACS)
recently released new recommendations for mammograms, in which women should begin having annual exams
at age 45 until age 55, and then have
the option to get an annual or biannual exam after age 55. ACS notes
that incidence of breast cancer begins
to noticeably increase around age 40,
and that women should still have the
opportunity to begin screening at age
40 if they so choose or at the recommendation of a physician.
Cooper Clinic begins baseline screening for breast cancer at age 40, although some women may choose to be
screened earlier due to family history
of the disease. The American College
of Radiology and Society of Breast Imaging also recommend screening beginning at age 40.
Other public health organizations
recommend that women have mam-

mograms every two years beginning
at age 50 and women under 50 consult with their physician, but Dr. Dell
refutes this recommendation. “Forty
percent of new breast cancers occur
in women younger than 50,” he says.
“Breast cancers can progress rapidly,
so taking the risk of letting a cancer
grow over the course of two years
between mammograms can lead to a
more advanced tumor stage when the
cancer is finally diagnosed.”
Finding breast cancer early is key to
diagnosis, treatment and survival. Radiologists are becoming better and
better at identifying cancers in their
smallest stages of development, even
in dense breasts. “If we catch a cancer that is one centimeter or less in diameter, there is almost a 98 percent
five-year survival rate, no matter how
aggressive that cancer is,” says Dr.
Dell. “We want to find the cancer before it can be felt during a self-exam,

because by the time a tumor can be
felt there is an approximately 20 percent chance that it has spread. This is
why annual mammograms are so important, as they can identify cancers
that would otherwise be unsuspected.”
There are a few things that Dr. Dell
says women should know when preparing for a mammogram. First, the
procedure can be uncomfortable, but
this is only because of the need to
get a clear picture of the breast. The
clearer the picture, the better opportunity to identify any potential problems.
Secondly, women should not be afraid
to ask questions of the radiologist or
technologist performing the exam. Being comfortable with their expertise
and trusting their knowledge can help
make H