Mammograms - Not Just Once, But for a Lifetime

Staying healthy is one of the most important things you can do for your family. Women can help protect their health by getting a screening mammogram, an x-ray of the breast, every year. Mammograms can find breast cancer early - often before it can be felt. Women over age 50 are at higher risk for developing breast cancer than younger women. If cancer is found early, it often can be treated.

In some cases, finding a breast tumor early may mean that a woman can choose surgery that saves her breast. Also, a woman whose breast tumor is detected in its early stages may not have to undergo chemotherapy. In fact, women who get early treatment have a 92 percent chance of surviving cancer and living at least five years or more. But if cancer is found in late stages, the chances of survival are not good - only 18 percent of women live more than five years if their cancer already has spread.

Most screening mammograms cost between $50 and $150 and most states have laws requiring health insurance companies to reimburse all or part of the cost of screening mammograms. Insurance companies and health care providers can provide details. If you are age 65 or over, your Medicare Part B helps cover the cost of a screening mammogram once every 12 months, with no deductible requirement.

Give yourself the gift of good health by getting a mammogram. Do it every year for yourself and for your family.

For more information about breast health or to find a certified mammography facility near you, call the Cancer Information Service (CIS), a program of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center supported by the National Cancer Institute, at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

For more information about Medicare coverage of mammograms, call 1-800-422-2620 and press "1" for Part B information.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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