Meet the Experts

Dr. Kate Lampen-Sachar

Diagnostic Radiologist with Miami Cancer Institute

Videos

Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines

The most accepted guidelines, and those that physicians follow, are for women of normal risk to start screening mammography at around age 40 and to continue it every single year, explains Dr. Kate Lampen-Sachar, Diagnostic Radiologist with Miami Cancer Institute. The specialist affirms mammograms are completely different now from what they were ten years ago. She says technology has dramatically improved about it.

Mammogram Images

Dr. Kate Lampen-Sachar, Diagnostic Radiologist with Miami Cancer Institute, explains an ultrasound of a patient’s normal healthy dense left breast. The specialist says patients with dense breast must have a breast ultrasound to accompany the mammogram, because sometimes some cancers can be hidden by dense breast tissue. She also describes an imaging of a fatty breast with cancer. The white mass in the imaging is cancer, she says.

Early Detection of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer caught early means that the breast cancer has not spread. It’s localized to the breast tissue, explains Dr. Kate Lampen-Sachar, Diagnostic Radiologist with Miami Cancer Institute. When breast cancer spreads usually the first place it goes to is the lymph nodes under the armpit before it travels elsewhere in the body, the expert describes. The doctor explains with a digital imaging how a healthy breast looks and also explains how cancer is being detected and how it can spread.

BI-RADS Score: Results Explained

There are some categories in Breast Imaging- Reporting Data System (BI-RADS). It’s a good tool and it’s used with mammography in cases of breast cancer diagnosis. Rates 0 to two are sure for patients and radiologists, explains Dr. Kate Lampen-Sachar, Diagnostic Radiologist with Miami Cancer Institute. In category 3, radiologists think there is a possibility to find benign finding and they are comfortable with that, because there is 2% or less chance of having breast cancer, she describes. About category 4, the specialist affirms she could have a very low suspicion of cancer and they need a biopsy for a complete diagnosis.

Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool

Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT) is the most validated and accepted risk assessment tool that physicians have. It takes into account the various risk factors (family history, breast density and others) as it assesses a patient’s ten-year risk of developing breast cancer as well as their lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, explains Dr. Kate Lampen-Sachar, Diagnostic Radiologist with Miami Cancer Institute. Dr. Starr Mautner, Breast Surgeon with Miami Cancer Institute, affirms it’s very common for young patients to have dense breasts and to have lumpy bumpy breasts. She advises her patients if they are worried about lump or they feel something and they’re not sure if it’s normal or not, to see a breast specialist.

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