October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Cancer Care Ontario has declared October 21st as “Day of the Mammogram” during national breast cancer awareness month. St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s Diagnostic Imaging department is supporting this cause and recommends all women over the age of 50 have screening mammograms on a regular basis as part of the Ontario Breast Screening Program (OBSP). “1 in 8 women in North America will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime,” explains Dr. Colm Boylan, Chief Diagnostic Imaging, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. “When breast cancer is detected in its early stage and in a localized form the five year survival approaches 100%.”
The Diagnostic Imaging department will also be asking all mammography patients to encourage a friend or family member to have one, “Women still benefit from a strategy for early detection of Breast Cancer,” states Dr. Boylan. “Screening Mammography is the best available method of detecting breast cancer at an early stage in a symptomatic woman.”
In addition, the OBSP also provides a specialist screening service for women at high risk of developing breast cancer. These are women who because of a known genetic predisposition to developing breast cancer, or having a strong family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer, or because of previous radiation therapy below the age of 30, are at increased risk of developing breast cancer. Women who fit these categories should ask their family physicians to refer them to the OBSP High Risk Screening Program.
The Women’s Health Centres at Charlton Campus and King Campus offer the OBSP program as well as needed follow-up interventional care. The Charlton site is also a “high-risk” breast imaging centre that offers breast imaging with mammograms, ultrasound and MRI.
For more information on St. Joe's Diagnostic Imaging program click here.