
Early education in breast self-examination and early detection is extremely important to get good results. Self-examination and medical examination to detect cancer at a rate of between 70 - 80%. Addition of screening mammography (mammograms) to increase detection from 96 to 98%. It has been shown that early detection through clinical examination and mammography can reduce breast cancer mortality by 20 to 30%. Today gold standard for screening (mammograms) will still lose between 10 and 15% of neoplasms.
Therefore, if a mass is clinically observed followed by a negative mammogram the work up should then include a breast ultrasound and / or a fine needle aspiration cytology and close interval examinations. The pattern of magnetic resonance imagine (MRI) is a method of breast examination is more sensitive to pick up small tumors in mammography. MRI is widely used in Europe but has failed in the U.S. yet. It is more expensive as a screening tool in the U.S., but since it is so widely used in Europe is actually cheaper there.