Women with a family history of breast cancer are advised to undergo regular screening so that if they develop the disease it may be detected in the earlier stages itself and there is a good chance for complete cure. For those who had their blood relatives develop the cancer in their thirties, the risk is especially high. If your mother, grandmother or aunts developed breast cancer while still in their thirties you fit the profile of very high risk and frequent screening is advised. If you are at risk for developing breast cancer, get a breast ultrasound done in addition to the routine mammogram. Women at high risk for developing the dreaded disease often consider mastectomy as a preventative option. The ultrasound method of detecting breast cancer may be helpful for this group of women by providing a stronger means of detection of breast cancer at the earliest stages of developing the disease. Mammograms are best suited to detect the cancer cells when the breast tissue is fatty. The success rate of cancer cell detection is as high as 98% when the breast tissue is fatty. But in women who have dense breast tissue, the cancer cells can hide inside and be camouflaged by the density. The question that researchers have been trying to answer is what can be done to increase the chances of detection of breast cancer cells in dense breast tissue. A breast ultrasound seems to be the answer. Women who have menopaused or are approaching menopause have dense breast tissue being replaced by fatty tissue. Mammograms can detect tumors in these women even before they become big enough to be felt. But in younger women with denser breast tissue, ultrasound is the technology that proves highly valuable in identifying tissue abnormalities. Research conducted on mammograms and ultrasounds found that in women with dense breasts, a mammogram detected about 48% of very small tumors. But when the mammogram was combined with a breast ultrasound, almost 94% of the tumors were detected. The breast ultrasound is a good tool to add to the arsenal of breast cancer screening techniques especially for women who present a high risk for developing the disease. The medical research community is constantly working on finding a cure for the dreaded disease called cancer. The more we study about it the more we understand and the more we discover methods of predicting cancer at the earliest stages itself. With the huge strides that are made every year, the day that we conquer the disease and attain the technology to completely cure it is not too far ahead.
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