A clinical breast examination is included with every routine appointment. Even if you have undergone a clinical breast exam during a recent visit to the doctor, our specially trained physicians or nurse practitioner will still conduct a clinical breast exam as a part of your overall plan of care.

Clinical breast exams are recommended by the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute for women age 20 - 40 every one to three years. After age 40, they are recommended yearly.

The Breast Center combines clinical breast exam with mammography as a part of your routine visit based on nationally supported guidelines and advanced research:

• Clinical breast exam is an important complement to mammography in the earlier detection of breast cancer.
• Mammography is not a stand-alone procedure
• Mammography alone is 85% accurate.
• Clinical breast exam identifies some cancers undetected by mammography.
• Clinical breast exam is an important screening tool for women whom mammography is not recommended.
• Clinical breast exam and self breast exam are important for early breast cancer detection and should be performed along with mammography
• Together, all three of these methods (mammography, clinical breast exam and self breast exam) provide complete breast cancer screening.

Contact The Breast Center at 706.509.6840 to schedule an appointment.