On Monday, we attended Breast Cancer Care’s reception in Parliament where they launched the findings of their research into the needs of Black, Asian and minority (BAME) women after treatment for breast cancer. Their research was funded by the Big Lottery Fund and was a collaboration with King’s College London.
This event was hosted by Dawn Butler MP, whose mother and sister were affected by breast cancer. Speaking at the reception, the Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Care Samia al Qadhi, summarised the findings stating that BAME women felt a greater sense of isolation after treatment, there was still a significant amount of stigma associated with breast cancer in certain cultures, there is a lack of culturally sensitive support, a number of communication and language issues, and services do not always meet the needs of BAME women. Breast Cancer Care explained that to address these issues they piloted a new culturally inclusive service in 2015 called PROWESS (Promoting Recovery, Wellbeing, Equality and Support in Survivorship). This service supported the self-management of BAME women after their hospital-based treatment for breast cancer. You can read more about PROWESS here.
Breast Cancer Care stated that policy-makers must consider the needs of BAME women in the implementation of current cancer strategies and ensure that new policies are inclusive and that everyone working in this area has to develop an understanding of how services can be culturally adapted.
During the reception we also heard from Heather Wilson from the Black Health Initiative in Leeds. Ms Wilson was very supportive of the research and its recommendations and stressed the importance of effective partnerships in addressing the issues raised during the research project.
We applaud the work being done by Breast Cancer Care to address the inequalities that exist in this area and look forward to seeing the next phase of this work. We were pleased to have been a part of the working group for PROWESS and hope that this programme will be launched nation wide.
It’s cervical cancer prevention week (24th to 30th Jan) so it’s an ideal time to remind everyone about the cervical cancer screening test- otherwise known as The Smear.
Cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer in women aged 35 and under and over 3,000 UK women are diagnosed with the disease each year.
The term cervical cancer describes the uncontrolled division/growth of abnormal cells in the neck of the womb (cervix). In over 99% of cases the cancer is caused by prolonged infection with a high risk strain of a virus known as human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV can spread between peoplethrough skin to skin contact in and around the genital area. HPV infection doesn’t lead to cervical cancer in everyone. However, as it’s such a common virus it is important that we do all we can to help prevent the occurrence or spot early signs of the disease. Below are 3 important steps:
1. Attend you smear test
During a smear test, a nurse or doctor removes a sample of cells from your cervix. These cells are then examined for any changes that might lead to cancer in the future. The process may be uncomfortable but it is over in a short period of time and is important in spotting potential problems. You should normally receive a request to attend a smear test from the age of 25. But if you do not receive one or are below 25 and have any concerns about your cervix – speak to your GP. Women from ethnic minorities are less likely to attend their smear appointments.This short video discusses the reasons for this.
2. Be aware of the symptoms of cervical cancer
Changes to the cells of the cervix do not usually cause symptoms. But if these changes become cancerous they can lead to symptoms such as:
· Unusual bleeding (e.g. during or after sexual intercourse, between periods, after the menopause)
· Unusual vaginal discharge
· Discomfort or pain during sex
· Lower back pain
· Changes to the frequency of urination
· Blood in the urine
· Rectal bleeding
· Diarrhoea
· Incontinence
· Leg swelling
Many of these symptoms may be associated with other conditions and have nothing to do with cervical cancer. But it is always best to get them investigated by seeing your GP as soon as possible.
3. HPV vaccine
Another nationwide programme which helps to reduce the occurrence of cervical cancer is the HPV vaccination programme. The NHS routinely offers vaccinations to girls aged 11–13 in Scotland and 12–13 in the rest of the UK. Girls normally receive the vaccine in school, but they can also receive it from their GP. The vaccine is free for all girls aged 11–17 in Scotland and 12–17 in the rest of the UK. The vaccine does not offer 100% protection against cervical cancer so anyone who has received it still needs to regularly attend their smear appointments as do all women seeking to prevent cervical cancer.
At the end of last year we conducted a prostate cancer engagement pilot project as part of a large piece of work funded by Prostate Cancer UK to determine the most effective method of reaching the black community with the key messages about prostate cancer.
Local charities were invited to apply for funding to carry out small projects over 3-4 months and we applied for funding to focus on black churches to determine whether, in reality, this is an effective and practical environment to raise awareness of prostate cancer.
Targeting black churches has two main advantages. Firstly, if we take London as an example, a large number of London’s black population attends church regularly. The London Church Census, covering the time period 2005-2012, found that 48% of inner London’s church goers and 21% of outer London’s church goers were black1. Based on their figures this equates to 238,158 people from the African and African Caribbean community. This means that by targeting black churches we can reach a significant proportion of the African Caribbean community.
The second advantage of targeting churches is that it provides a very structured environment where a large number of people meet regularly. This, in theory, makes it a convenient environment to deliver health awareness messages. Additionally, many churches have developed their institutions beyond just preaching on a Sunday. Many churches have Men’s Fellowships, Young Professional Networks, Women’s Fellowships, Over 50’s Clubs, Men’s Conferences, Women’s Conferences and social functions. This means that there is the opportunity, in some churches, to select a sub-population within a church that would most benefit from a particular health message.
Whilst there are advantages to targeting black churches there are some logistical challenges. Firstly, churches tend to have a busy programme of events that will have been planned months in advance making it difficult to fit additional events into their schedule. Secondly, the ideal situation would be to deliver a presentation on a Sunday where there is access to the entire congregation, but many churches may not be able to accommodate this. This means that awareness presentations would have to be delivered on a Saturday or during the week where only a small percentage of the congregation is likely to attend. Through a flexible approach, being creative with the methods of engagement and developing long term relationships with churches it is possible to overcome some of these challenges.
The Lake Foundation being based in Croydon, where there is a diverse population and a significant number of black churches, decided to work locally and target churches in Croydon and the surrounding area. In our pilot we worked with two churches and explored the best strategy for working with churches to raise awareness amongst their congregations.
From our pilot we found that:
Engaging with black churches can be an effective way of reaching the African Caribbean community with the key messages about prostate cancer because of the potential of reaching large numbers.
To reach large numbers in a church setting requires the development of a long-term bespoke engagement programme.
There is a need to understand the structure of individual churches to ensure the best strategy is implemented to reach as many of their members as possible.
Engaging with churches may include targeting Sunday services for maximum reach and/or organising awareness sessions on a weekday/Saturday to ensure members have a more in-depth knowledge of prostate cancer.
Recommendations
Overall The Lake Foundation recommended that Prostate Cancer UK explores developing a structured awareness program for African Caribbean churches in the UK or contracting this work out to community organisations. Whilst this may require significant time, personnel and resources we believe it is an effective way of reaching the black community.
Our specific recommendations:
Target Sunday Services
This pilot has shown that targeting Sunday services would ensure large numbers of people are reached but with limited information because of the time constraints of fitting into the Sunday service’s programme
Targeting churches successfully on a Sunday would require two approaches:
A short presentation during all their Sunday services
Setting up an information table throughout the day on a Sunday
Specific recommendations:
Develop a 5-7 minute presentation that could be used for Sunday services
Develop an easy method to measure the impact of delivering short presentations at a Sunday service
Be flexible and persistent
Target churches outside of a Sunday service to achieve depth of knowledge
If the aim is to deliver in-depth information about prostate cancer to church goers and if this isn’t possible through a Sunday service due to time constraints then an additional approach will need to be taken.
The pilot has shown that targeting churches through a one-off event (not on a Sunday) is not the most effective method of reaching the largest number of people, this only reaches a small percentage of a church’s congregation. Therefore a regular engagement programme is needed.
Specific recommendations:
Work with individual churches to understand their structure and how best to reach their members
Identify groups, departments, events and forums within individual churches that can provide an effective environment to raise awareness
Organise regular events with the same church throughout the year
Make good use of churches’ communication platforms – social media, website, newsletters, bulletins, TV stations, YouTube channels etc.
We believe that by taking a long-term, flexible and creative approach in targeting churches a significant impact can be made and we’re delighted to learn that Prostate Cancer UK will be launching a new Faith Based Outreach Project using what we learnt from this pilot. We wish them all the very best in this project and hope that is makes a significant difference in increasing cancer outcomes by facilitating early diagnosis and we’d like to thank Prostate Cancer UK for giving us the opportunity to conduct this pilot.
You can download our full report below.
References
1. Brierley Consultancy, London Church Census and London City Mission, 2013. London’s Churches are Growing.Kent: Brierley Consultancy
“After thoroughly reviewing the accumulated scientific literature, a Working Group of 22 experts from 10 countries convened by the IARC Monographs Programme classified the consumption of red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), based on limited evidence that the consumption of red meat causes cancer in humans and strong mechanistic evidence supporting a carcinogenic effect.
This association was observed mainly for colorectal cancer, but associations were also seen for pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer.
Processed meat was classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer.”
This was picked up by hundreds of media outlets throughout the world with headlines stating that bacon causes cancer. Today we wanted to take a look at this and get to the bottom of the media headlines.
Firstly IARC and WHO’s announcement wasn’t really new information, a number of research studies over the years have shown that red and processed meats increases a person’s risk of developing bowel cancer and charities like Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer have been raising awareness of this fact for a number of years.
The wording of the statement and the classification of red and processed meat suggested that bacon and other processed meats were in the same league as tobacco and asbestos but this is not the case and WHO has since clarified this. They have said whilst they have placed them in the same category “this does NOT mean they are all equally dangerous.”
If we look at global statistics about one million cancer deaths a year are caused by smoking whilst 34,000 cancer deaths are caused by consuming high levels of processed meat and red meat could be responsible for about 50,000 cancer deaths a year.
Research by the World Cancer Research Fund has shown that people who consume the most processed meat have and 17% higher risk of developing bowel cancer that those who consumed the least.
If you put that into the UK context, 21% of bowel cancers are linked to high consumption of processed or red meat, that’s 8,732 cases per year. So by reducing consumption of red and processed meats we can prevent over 8,000 cases of bowel cancer every year.
You may be wondering why red and processed meats increase a person’s risk of developing bowel cancer and to answer that question we have to understand what processed and red meats are. Processed meats are any meat that has been preserved for example cured, salted, smoked or had a preservative added. This includes bacon, ham, corned beef, pepperoni, hot dogs, salami etc. And, red meat includes beef, pork, lamb and goat; these are meats that are red when uncooked.
It is not entirely clear why red and processed meat increase a person’s risk of developing bowel cancer, but there are some theories. It is thought that processed meats increase risk of bowel cancer because the methods of preserving these meats lead to the development of cancer-causing substances. When it comes to red meat, scientist suggest that it may cause cancer due to the molecule that gives red meat its colour (haem). This molecule may lead to the development of cancer-causing chemicals too. Additionally, cooking both red and processed meat at high temperatures may also generate cancer-causing substances.
The recommendation is that we should all cut down on red meat and avoid processed meat, these can be replaced with white meat or vegetarian options, and we should all be eating more fruits, vegetables and fibre.
***************** Sources
WHO
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Cancer Research UK
World Caner Research Fund
High blood pressure is a major challenge for the black community in the UK with 33% of black adults having high blood pressure compared to 16% of white adults. When we look at the actual numbers, to understand the scale of the problem, the black community makes up 3.3% of the UK’s population so a staggering 625,503 black people in the UK are known to have high blood pressure; we have to do something about this.
What is high blood pressure?
Blood pressure is a measure of how much force (pressure) our blood exerts on our blood vessels (our arteries and veins). High blood pressure, medically known as hypertension, occurs when the force our blood exerts on our vessels is consistently higher than what is considered to be a healthy level, which is generally 120/80mmHg. If a person has several blood pressure measurements, on separate occasions, which are 140/90mmHg or higher then they are considered to have high blood pressure. This is a major concern because it is associated with a number of health complications with people suffering from high blood pressure being twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke. This is because the high pressure can damage our arteries affecting the blood supply to our heart or brain.
What causes high blood pressure?
The exact cause of high blood pressure is unknown but there are a number of factors that increase a person’s risk of developing high blood pressure and many of these factors are associated with lifestyle and these include: lack of physical activity, an unhealthy diet (especially a diet high in salt), being overweight or obese, drinking too much alcohol, stress and smoking. Furthermore, your risk of developing high blood pressure increases as you get older, and you’re at a higher risk if you have a family history of high blood pressure, are from the black community and suffer from sleep apnoea. Additionally there are a number of health conditions that increase a person’s risk of developing high blood pressure so for example people who have diabetes, kidney disease and adrenal and thyroid disorders are at increased risk of developing high blood pressure.
Why is the black community at higher risk of developing high blood pressure?
We know that the black community in the UK are twice as likely to develop high blood pressure as their white counterparts and are more likely to develop it at a younger age, but the question is: why? Research suggests that there may be several reasons for this and here are just four key reasons:
Salt Sensitivity
We now know that people respond to salt differently so some people who consume large amounts of salt will not go on to develop high blood pressure whilst others will. This has led to a term called salt sensitivity which is a measure of how a person’s blood pressure responds to salt. A person who is salt sensitive is likely to develop high blood pressure from consuming salt whilst a person who is salt resistant is unlikely to develop high blood pressure from consuming salt.
Sodium (salt is sodium chloride), blood pressure and fluid balance are controlled by the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in our body. In this system hormones control the absorption of sodium by the blood and therefore control our blood pressure. People who are salt sensitive have genetic variations in some of the genes involved in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system which makes them less able to handle salt and maintain a normal blood pressure.
Members of the black community are more likely to be salt sensitive particularly black Americans and black Caribbeans who are thought to have inherited the aforementioned genetic variations.
“The majority of salt consumed by people of black African descent is from salt added in cooking and/or at the table. This is in contrast to the rest of the UK population (and indeed the Western world) where 75% of salt intake comes from processed foods. A health survey in England found that 83% of black men and 85% of black women added salt in cooking. Over a quarter (28%) of the same population add salt at the table. Salted meats and fish like salt-fish and salt-beef, and heavily seasoned meats such as fried chicken, stews and curries can contain a lot of salt.”
This suggests that the black people may consume more salt than their white counterparts and when this is coupled with the salt sensitivity phenomena this is a recipe for disaster when it comes to high blood pressure.
Increased Risk of Diabetes
Diabetes is a key risk factor for high blood pressure with about 80% of type 2 diabetics suffering from high blood pressure. When we look at how diabetes affects the black community data suggests that the black community is three times more likely to develop diabetes than their white counterparts, and this will mean that as a result of diabetes black people will be more likely to develop high blood pressure. Again, if we put this into numbers, to understand the scale of the problem, it is estimated that 5.3% of the UK’s black population have type two diabetes compared to 1.7% of the white population which means that 50,000 black people in the UK are affected by diabetes and hence are at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.
Lifestyle
We also know that the black community are at increased risk of high blood pressure due to other lifestyle factors, for example black African women in the UK have been found to have the highest prevalence of obesity and obesity is a risk factor for high blood pressure. Additionally, the black community are less likely to be physical active with NICE reporting that:
“African-Caribbeans aged 16 to 74 years, 62 per cent of men and three quarters of women do not participate in enough physical activity to benefit their health* (HEA 1995a), compared with the general population (59 per cent of men and 68 per cent of women (HEA 1995b).”
Physical inactivity is a key risk factor for high blood pressure and the above shows that many black people are not achieving their recommended level of physical activity putting us at a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.
What can we do?
In order to tackle this problem we clearly need to make some changes to our diet and lifestyle. We can make a significant difference by looking at our salt intake. The government recommends that adults consume no more than 6g of salt a day. To achieve this we have to:
Avoid adding salt to our food and use herbs and spices to season our food
Avoid processed foods
Ask restaurants to prepare low-salt versions of the dishes on their menu
For some great tips on how to reduce your salt intake visit Consensus Action on Salt and Health’s website
Additionally we have to get more active and aim to do 30 minutes of physical activity every day and we have to tackle diabetes. We can reduce our risk of developing diabetes through lifestyle changes, – a healthy diet, being active and maintaing a healthy weight.
Finally, there needs to be collaboration between the government, the food industry, the public and charities to ensure that it is easy for all of us to achieve a healthy lifestyle or else this problem of high blood pressure will not go away.
References
Ageymang C & Bhopal R. Is the blood pressure of people from African origin adults in the UK higher or lower than that in European origin white people? A review of cross-sectional data. Journal of Human Hypertension. 2003; 17(8). 523-534
Blood Pressure UK.
D Lane, D G Beevers and G Y H Lip. Ethnic differences in blood pressure and the prevalence of hypertension in England Journal of Human Hypertension (2002) 16, 267-273. DOI: 10.1038/sj/jhh/1001371
Diabetes UK. Diabetes: Facts and Stats (2014)
Diabetes UK. Diabetes in the UK 2011/2012: Key Statistics on Diabetes. Diabetes UK, 2011
Fuchs FD. Why Do Black Americans Have Higher Prevalence of Hypertension? An Enigma Still Unsolved. Hypertension.2011; 57: 379-380
Gatineau M, Mathrani S. Obesity and Ethnicity. Oxford: National Obesity Observatory, 2011
NICE. Promoting Physical Activity Among Black and Minority Ethnic Groups
Scarborough P, Bhatnagar P, Kaur A, Smolina K, Wickramasinghe K and Raynew M.Ethnic Differences in Cardiovascular Disease. Oxford: University of Oxford/British Heart Foundation, 2010
Sullivan JM.1991. Salt sensitivity. Definition, conception, methodology, and long-term issues. Hypertension. 17(1 Suppl):I61-8. PMID:1987013.
The Stroke Association. Stroke in African Caribbean People. London: The Stroke Association, 2012
On Wednesday 5th August we were delighted to take part in TWYLYTE VIP’s Creative Arts, Entertainment and Networking Summer Event. This was an excellent event that brought together representatives from the music, film, fashion and media industries and gave us the prefect opportunity to raise awareness of a very important health issue, cervical cancer.
The event was hosted by Jaye of TWYLYTE PR and recording artist Kele Leroc who started the night’s proceedings with live interviews featuring actor Femi Oyeniran (Kidulthood and Anuvahood); Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, the director of the British Urban Film Festival; Nadine Woodley and Dani Mosely writers of the stage play The Forty Elephants; and Martina Barnett from Inside Out.
After the inspirational and informative live interviews we moved on to the ‘FASHION Meets AWARENESS’ Magnetic Fashion Show. FASHION Meets AWARENESS is the brain child of Celena of Magnetic Fashion Connections and it aims to showcase creative designers whilst highlighting important health issues – an excellent idea. The fashion show featured a collection of creations from a new wave of fashion designers that included Erwin Michalec, Sonia Funnell and Dee Naturals. Following the fashion show we delivered the awareness part of FASHION Meets AWARENESS with a short presentation on cervical cancer covering what is cervical cancer, what causes it, risk factors, screening, the HPV vaccination and the symptoms.
This was a really fun event and we were very grateful to be given the opportunity to raise awareness of cervical cancer and we’d like to say a big thank you to Celena from Magnetic Fashion Connections for inviting us to take part in this event.
July is Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Month (EMCAM) in the UK giving us the prefect opportunity to focus on how the black community is affected by cancer and to raise awareness within our community. Overall the black community is slightly less likely to develop cancer than the white population but there are some cancers that are of particular concern. These are:
Prostate cancer – black men are two times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men
Cervical cancer – black women over the age of 65 are more likely to develop cervical cancer than their white counterparts
Myeloma – the black community is 2-3 times more likely to develop myeloma, develop it at a slightly younger age and have poorer survival rates.
Breast cancer – black women although less likely to develop breast cancer than white women are more likely to die from it and black women tend to develop breast cancer at a younger age than white women
In addition to this, research over the years has found that awareness of symptoms and uptake of cancer services, such as cancer screening, is lower in the black community. This leads to many black cancer patients being diagnosed at a late stage when their cancer is harder to treat, leading to lower cancer survival rates. We can change this by increasing awareness, taking prompt action if we notice symptoms and taking part in the breast, bowel and cervical cancer screening programmes.
This Year’s Ethnic Minority Cancer Awareness Month (EMCAM)
This year EMCAM is focusing on raising awareness of bowel cancer and the importance of screening. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK with over 33,000 new cases diagnosed every year and it is more common in people over the age of 50. If caught early this cancer can be treated very successfully therefore screening and being aware of the symptoms is very important.
Bowel Cancer Screening
In the UK, everyone aged 60-74 is invited to take part in the bowel screening programme but participation is very low with only 50-60% of 60-74 year olds taking part. We encourage everyone to take part; it a very simple and straightforward process. Sample collection takes place in the comfort of your own home and you can simply send your samples off in a freepost envelope. For more information on bowel screening please click here.
The Symptoms of Bowel Cancer
The symptoms of bowel cancer are:
• Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your faeces
• A change in bowel habit lasting for 3 weeks or more (constipation or diarrhoea)
• Unexplained weight loss
• Unexplained fatigue
• Persistent tummy pain
• A lump in your tummy
If you are experiencing one, some or all of these symptoms and they aren’t going away, don’t panic, your symptoms could be due to a number of reasons, but do visit your doctor to rule out bowel cancer.
Learn More About Bowel Cancer This Month
Bowel Cancer UK, the Department of Health and community groups across the UK are working together to host free bowel cancer information sessions and below are the dates and locations of these events.
Friday 17th July – Age UK – 81 Brigstock Road, Thornton Health, CR7 7JH – 12 noon
Monday 20th July – The Sugar Group
Tuesday 21st July – CVA Resource Centre – 82 London Road, CR0 2TB – 12 noon
Saturday 25th July – Croydon BME forum – 387 London Road, CR0 3PB – 12 noon
Sunday 26th July – BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Temple – 75 Pitmaston Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, B28 9PP – 1pm
Monday 27th July – Pannel Croft Village – Pannel croft Newtown Birmingham B19 2YD – 2pm.
Wednesday 29th July – Wai Yin Chinese Elderly Group
For more information about bowel cancer please visit Bowel Cancer UK’s website.
We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded a Support Group Start-up Grant from Macmillan Cancer Support. This grant will help us reach more of our community and ensure that we can help as many people as possible.
Our support group started in June 2014 thanks to a grant from Croydon Council and it’s facilitated by a trained counsellor, Hazel Williams. The group provides an informal, friendly environment to connect with people who have been affected by cancer, share experiences and learn how to cope with a cancer diagnosis.
Our support group members have found the sessions to be very useful and have said the following about the group:
“The facilitator was very insightful and had a lot of meaningful things to say. She gave me a lot to think about.”
“The relaxation and mindfulness session was really useful.”
“I was feeling very down and really wasn’t going to attend but I am glad that the organisers called me and picked me up. I found the session to be very useful and I am so glad that I came.”
The group meets on the first Wednesday of the month from 4pm – 6pm at 3Space in Croydon. If you’d like more information about our support group or would like to attend please email us at info@thelakefoundation.com or call 07440 146 645.
We’d like to say a big thank you to Macmillan Cancer Support, we really appreciate their support and look forward to putting this grant to good use.
Friday is World Ovarian Cancer Day and this gives us the perfect opportunity to focus on a disease that gets very little attention.
In the UK, ovarian cancer is considered to be a rare cancer with 7,000 new cases diagnosed every year. For those affected the statistics are unfairly bleak with only 43% of patients surviving for at least five years compared to 85% of breast cancer patients. We can improve this by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer and ensuring that women and healthcare professionals take quick action should they recognise the symptoms.
Increased awareness leads to more patients being diagnosed at an early stage and early diagnosis does save lives; 92% of women diagnosed at an early stage will go on to live beyond 5 years.
Black women are less likely to develop ovarian cancer than white women but data does suggest that black women are more likely to be diagnosed at a late stage so raising awareness in the black community is very important.
So, this World Ovarian Cancer Day join the global movement to raise awareness by pledging to tell five women about the symptoms of ovarian cancer.
To sign the pledge and get more information visit the World Ovarian Cancer Day website and for more information about ovarian cancer please visit Ovarian Cancer Action’s website.
We were recently asked about breast implants and mammograms and in today’s blog we thought we’d address this.
A mammogram is an X-ray that is used during the breast screening process to detect breast cancer at a very early stage and hence aims to give women with breast cancer the best chance of survival. During a mammogram X-rays are passed through the breast in order to generate images (radiographs) of each breast. If a tumour, cyst or calcium deposits are present this will be detected as bright spots on the radiographs.
Image credit: Prague Beauty
When a woman has a breast implant (breast augmentation/ enlargement), the implant is inserted between her breast tissue and chest muscle or behind her chest muscle. The implant may make a mammogram less effective at detecting breast cancer as it prevents the X-rays from penetrating the tissue properly and hence distorts the image. This can be overcome by a slight modification in the way in which the mammogram is performed which will allow as much of the breast tissue as possible to be visualised by the x-ray.
If you are due for a mammogram and you have an implant please definitely attend your appointment but let the breast screening clinic know beforehand that you have an implant so they are prepared and can screen you appropriately.
If you have a breast implant because you have had a total mastectomy (i.e. both breasts removed) you won’t need a mammogram as all your breast tissue has been removed but following your breast cancer diagnosis and after treatment you will be monitored regularly. If you have had a mastectomy on just one side then you’ll need to have a mammogram of the breast that remains.
We hope this answers any questions you may have on this topic and if you have any more questions please do let us know by leaving a comment below.
