Why is it that you have to be 30 to get a mammogram?!

Why is it that you have to be 30 to get a mammogram?

It makes me mad when doctors say this to me. I am almost 27 and I would like to have one done. I feel some kind hard knot on one of my boobs been checked several times and no one thinks its anything. I was adopted and I know there is cancer on both sides so it worries me that I could be high risk. My husbands insurance pays for 1 free mammagram a year but know one will give me one b/c of the radiation. I could care less about that I want to make sure I am in good health and have many more years to come w/ my kids.

First off, mammograms on women under the age of thirty are not done very often at all. Dense breasts do not image well with mammography. Dense breast tissue looks white on film. All mammographic signs of breast cancer (either a cancerous tumor or microcalcifications) also look white on film. The "white" breast tissue hides any "white" pathology which may be present in the breast. Dense breast tissue is also harder to penetrate with the radiation beam in order to image it properly. That equals a higher (sometimes significantly higher) radiation dose to the breast. The risk of this higher dose of radiation eventually causing a breast cancer does not outweigh the benefit of the radiation dose (as mammography will probably not answer any questions anyhow).

If you and your doctors feel as if this hard knot is suspicious, an ultrasound is the best exam for you. But, at your young age, many doctors will wait through a full menstrual cycle before ordering an u/s. Most women have "lumps" that come and go with her periods. If a doctor ordered an ultrasound on every young woman who feels a lump in their breast, my imaging center would do nothing but breast ultrasound!

Family history of breast cancer only SLIGHTLY raises your risk of developing breast cancer yourself. Hereditary breast cancers are caused by a breast cancer gene which you are born with. Most breast cancers are NOT related to the breast cancer gene. If your mother, aunt or grandmother has breast cancer, and you eventually develop it also, it is usually just a coincidence.

Just a couple of other things.....if your lump gets smaller or comes and goes with your periods, it is not a cancer. A breast cancer does not shrink, but it will grow larger. If a lump stays stable, it probably is not a breast cancer, because, once again, a breast cancer grows. An enlarging lump could be many things, one of which is cancer. If your lump is not a breast cancer, who cares what it is! If something is not going to adversely affect your health, it is inconscequential. A simple cyst or a intramammary lump node or a fibroadenoma is not cancer and will never become cancer. And, by far, the odds are your lump is one of those things. So, as hard as it is, try to be patient. The best thing you can do is keep your eye (or finger, in this case) on this lump and watch for changes. A breast ultrasound may very well be indicated in your case if this lump persists or grows. Best wishes to you!