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There are benign (not-cancer) and malignant (cancer) diseases of the breast. The most efficient method of diagnosis rests in 3 areas: the patient’s self-examination, a screening mammogram and the physician's examination.
The patient's self-examination should be monthly at mid-menstrual cycle and performed as per the American Cancer Society guidelines. The Mammogram is done starting at age 40 (possibly earlier as a baseline) then annually. The Physician's examination should performed, at a minimum, every year (annually) (after Mammogram ), but preferably every 6 months.
Most over 85% of biopsied breast masses are benign but biopsy is warranted regardless to tissue sample areas of concern.
A Biopsy may be done by needle aspiration, x-ray or sonogram directed core samples, or by open (surgical) biopsy. The latter (open surgical biopsy) is done by incisional method (piece of pie), excisional method (entire pie) or by lumpectomy (pie plus a rim of normal tissue) This analogy assumes the breast mass is like a pie in shape and size.)
Additional treatment needed depends on the result of the biopsy.
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