How to examine your breasts
- Lie down and place your right arm behind your head. The exam is done while lying down, not standing up. This is because when lying down the breast tissue spreads evenly over the chest wall and is as thin as possible, making it much easier to feel all the breast tissue.
- Use the finger pads of the 3 middle fingers on your left hand to feel for lumps in the right breast. Use overlapping dime-sized circular motions of the finger pads to feel the breast tissue.
- Use 3 different levels of pressure to feel all the breast tissue. Light pressure is needed to feel the tissue closest to the skin; medium pressure to feel a little deeper; and firm pressure to feel the tissue closest to the chest and ribs. It is normal to feel a firm ridge in the lower curve of each breast, but you should tell your doctor if you feel anything else out of the ordinary. If you're not sure how hard to press, talk with your doctor or nurse. Use each pressure level to feel the breast tissue before moving on to the next spot.
- Move around the breast in an up and down pattern starting at an imaginary line drawn straight down your side from the underarm and moving across the breast to the middle of the chest bone (sternum or breastbone). Be sure to check the entire breast area going down until you feel only ribs and up to the neck or collar bone (clavicle).
- There is some evidence to suggest that the up-and-down pattern (sometimes called the vertical pattern) is the most effective pattern for covering the entire breast, without missing any breast tissue.
- Repeat the exam on your left breast, putting your left arm behind your head and using the finger pads of your right hand to do the exam.
- While standing in front of a mirror with your hands pressing firmly down on your hips, look at your breasts for any changes of size, shape, contour, or dimpling, or redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin. (The pressing down on the hips position contracts the chest wall muscles and enhances any breast changes.)
- Examine each underarm while sitting up or standing and with your arm only slightly raised so you can easily feel in this area. Raising your arm straight up tightens the tissue in this area and makes it harder to examine.
This procedure for doing breast self exam is different from previous recommendations. These changes represent an extensive review of the medical literature and input from an expert advisory group. There is evidence that this position (lying down), the area felt, pattern of coverage of the breast, and use of different amounts of pressure increase a woman's ability to find abnormal areas.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
For certain women at high risk for breast cancer, screening MRI is recommended along with a yearly mammogram. It is not generally recommended as a screening tool by itself, because although it is a sensitive test, it may still miss some cancers that mammograms would detect.MRI scans use magnets and radio waves (instead of x-rays) to produce very detailed, cross-sectional images of the body. The most useful MRI exams for breast imaging use a contrast material (gadolinium) that is injected into a vein in the arm before or during the exam. This improves the ability of the MRI to clearly show breast tissue details. (For more details on how an MRI test is done, see the section, " How is breast cancer diagnosed?")MRI is more sensitive in detecting cancers than mammograms, but it also has a higher false-positive rate (where the test finds something that turns out not to be cancer), which results in more recalls and biopsies. This is why it is not recommended as a screening test for women at average risk of breast cancer, as it would result in unneeded biopsies and other tests in a large portion of these women.Just as mammography uses x-ray machines that are specially designed to image the breasts, breast MRI also requires special equipment. Breast MRI machines produce higher quality images than MRI machines designed for head, chest, or abdominal scanning. However, many hospitals and imaging centers do not have dedicated breast MRI equipment available. It is important that screening MRIs be done at facilities that can perform an MRI-guided breast biopsy. Otherwise, the entire scan will need to be repeated at another facility when the biopsy is done.MRI is more expensive than mammography. Most major insurance companies will likely pay for these screening tests if a woman can be shown to be at high risk, but it's not yet clear if all companies will do so. At this time there are concerns about costs of and limited access to high-quality MRI breast screening services for women at high risk of breast cancer.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
For certain women at high risk for breast cancer, screening MRI is recommended along with a yearly mammogram. It is not generally recommended as a screening tool by itself, because although it is a sensitive test, it may still miss some cancers that mammograms would detect.
MRI scans use magnets and radio waves (instead of x-rays) to produce very detailed, cross-sectional images of the body. The most useful MRI exams for breast imaging use a contrast material (gadolinium) that is injected into a vein in the arm before or during the exam. This improves the ability of the MRI to clearly show breast tissue details. (For more details on how an MRI test is done, see the section, " How is breast cancer diagnosed?")
MRI is more sensitive in detecting cancers than mammograms, but it also has a higher false-positive rate (where the test finds something that turns out not to be cancer), which results in more recalls and biopsies. This is why it is not recommended as a screening test for women at average risk of breast cancer, as it would result in unneeded biopsies and other tests in a large portion of these women.
Just as mammography uses x-ray machines that are specially designed to image the breasts, breast MRI also requires special equipment. Breast MRI machines produce higher quality images than MRI machines designed for head, chest, or abdominal scanning. However, many hospitals and imaging centers do not have dedicated breast MRI equipment available. It is important that screening MRIs be done at facilities that can perform an MRI-guided breast biopsy. Otherwise, the entire scan will need to be repeated at another facility when the biopsy is done.
MRI is more expensive than mammography. Most major insurance companies will likely pay for these screening tests if a woman can be shown to be at high risk, but it's not yet clear if all companies will do so. At this time there are concerns about costs of and limited access to high-quality MRI breast screening services for women at high risk of breast cancer.
