For women at average risk, screening mammograms should be performed annually beginning at age 40 to check the breasts for any early signs of breast cancer. If you have a higher risk of breast cancer, you and your doctor may decide that you will be start screening at a younger age per www.breastcancer.org.
All women should have access to regular screening mammograms when they and their health care providers decide it is best based on their personal risk of breast cancer.
Most major health organizations agree mammography lowers a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer. Modern-day mammography only involves a tiny amount of radiation, even less than a standard chest X-ray.
Mammograms save lives and an important diagnostic tool. Access to this tool can only be beneficial in the continuing fight against breast cancer in the Solomon Islands.
Comment
I pen this piece following a recent report that there is not a workable mammogram machine in use at the NRH cancer unit.
I have personally appealed via my letters to the media and on my website for such a machine to be made available to the NRH but remain unaware whether such a vital diagnostic tool has been provided.
Could some advice or information be supplied to clarify the situation, please?
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
