Mariah Escobar 
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., according to a UTRGV assistant professor.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and two university personnel spoke about the importance of early detection.
Theresa Pagliuca, a UTRGV assistant professor for Medicine and a radiation oncologist, said this year, “more than 25,000 women” in Texas will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
“The rate at which we find breast cancer does seem to be increasing,” Pagliuca said. “However, the death rate from breast cancer is decreasing.”
Anne Hernandez, a UTRGV mammography technologist, said many women are afraid to do their yearly mammograms because they are afraid of what the outcomes will be.
Hernandez added mammograms are “easier” and “not as uncomfortable” as women might think.
According to Pagliuca and Hernandez, if breast cancer is detected early the outcomes are often better as it is treatable and usually curable.
“The current recommendations from the American Cancer Society are that beginning at age 40, women should have annual mammograms,” Pagliuca said.
She said most women who are diagnosed with breast cancer are in their 50s, 60s and over. That is why Pagliuca recommends women to start getting screenings at 40.
Hernandez said breast cancer starts to appear more frequently and happens in “unexpected and common ages, [and] races.”
She said women who have a family history of cancer are encouraged to keep up with their yearly mammograms.
“Women [with a family history of cancer] should talk to their healthcare provider about when they should start screening,” Pagliuca said.
She said mammograms are free for women that have health insurance and there are sources of funding that will provide free mammograms for women that do not have health insurance.
Hernandez said women can also do self examinations to ensure they are keeping up with their health.
“A lot of doctors sometimes have flyers on how to do a … self-breast examination and they can go online,” she said to ensure women are doing the self examination correctly.
Hernandez said women can have breast cancer without any of the symptoms.
She added women should make sure to get their screenings annually.
“It can be life saving and it’s very important,” Hernandez said.
Women can schedule their annual mammograms that take about 45 minutes and are not painful with their primary healthcare provider, according to Pagliuca.
“For many patients breast cancer is a survivable problem and we expect the majority of patients to go on to live perfectly normal healthy lives,” she said.
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