Mammography - the best to detect breast cancer

About 80 – 90% cases of breast cancer in women are detected by mammography. "Mammography remains the most effective screening test for the early detection of breast cancer available to women today," Dr. Otis W. Brawley, the ACS's chief medical officer, said in a society news release. "Women are strongly urged to schedule their mammograms yearly and to talk to their doctor regularly about their risk for breast cancer."

Early detection by mammography and the latest medical techniques have led to a decline in the breast cancer death rate in the United States since 1990. But a recent study suggests that many women are getting mammograms at a later age, not getting them done regularly every year, or are not following post mammography procedures.

According to the Illinois Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, more than 10 percent of women in Knox County above the age of 40 had got a mammogram. 28% of those who had got mammography after forty did not follow it up regularly on yearly basis.

“Taking an hour out of your schedule to get a mammogram could possibly save your life,” said Gretchen Gonzalez, Community Health Educator. “Mammograms are probably the most important tool to detecting breast cancer.”