Going Beyond Exams for Life-long Health
There are some key essentials to caring for your breasts, starting with self-awareness and regular care from a primary care physician, including annual clinical breast exams with a trained healthcare professional. You also have to know the texture of your breast tissue—smooth, bubbly, or bumpy like a bag of frozen peas. The best way to know this is by doing monthly self-breast exams.
Between yearly clinical exams, doing monthly self-exams helps you check for lumps that are unusual for you or for changes in the skin or nipple. If you detect changes, see your doctor for further examination. Most breast changes are benign (not cancerous).
Women age 40 and older should have annual mammograms to screen for breast abnormalities with a better view of the breast tissue and ducts.
Breast Health Services at Virtua
Virtua provides the latest preventive, diagnostic, and treatment options to maintain breast health and treat benign breast disease or breast cancer, including:
- Digital mammograms read by board-certified and fellowship-trained radiologists, as well as breast ultrasound and MRI
- Free cancer screening program for under- or uninsured residents of Burlington and Camden counties
- Cancer risk assessment and genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancers
- Treatment services including traditional and minimally invasive surgeries for non-cancerous breast lumps or breast cancer
Discovery of a suspicious breast lump or area requires further testing for an accurate diagnosis. To ensure you are comfortable with the process, the Virtua Cancer Program's Breast Navigation service provides you with navigators to quickly connect you with skilled breast surgeons and assist in getting answers.
In addition, women diagnosed with breast cancer will be connected with an oncology nurse navigator who helps them through breast cancer from diagnosis to recovery. Shortly after diagnosis, an oncology nurse navigator calls each patient to help her understand her diagnosis and guide her through the next steps for care. Virtua’s breast cancer program includes a team of breast surgeons, and medical and radiation oncologists who offer the most advanced clinical and surgical care.
