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Senological Diagnosis

The Ruesch Clinic provides its patients with specialized medical teams and high-profile equipment making the facility a benchmark for diagnostics in Southern Italy.

General Info

A breast examination or a senologic examination is one of those exams that must be performed every year by contacting a senologist but despite this, it is advisable to proceed at least once a month – possibly always in the same period of the cycle and preferably before the ovulation – autopalpation of the breast in view of already detecting some morphological changes in the appearance of our breasts, thus being able to detect:

  • abnormal and persistent reddening of the skin
  • the presence of new nodules
  • secretions of a nipple or both nipples

Should one of these anomalies occur, it is right to contact your doctor or a specialist as soon as possible. In addition, after the age of twenty-five we recommend that you check your breasts once a year with a mammary ultrasound and once you have passed the age of 40 you must go beyond a breast examination to a mammogram.

During a senologic examination, the evaluation of the breast and its glands can also be extended to the axillary cables, where other inflamed or suspicious lymph nodes can be found and to the pits above and below the clavicle as well as to the submammary furrows. The clinical examination of the breast is one of those fundamental examinations for women as it is one of the first means for the prevention and treatment of diseases of the mammary gland.

The examination of the breast is a complete examination of the breast that is performed without the use of special equipment but that above all does not involve any pain for the patient and has as its purpose to evaluate, ascertain or exclude the presence of all the diseases that are linked breast and is often accompanied by a mammary ultrasound to formulate a complete plan of what is the overview of the situation of the mammary glands and any pathologies affecting the breast.

Before being able to start with the examination of the breasts, however, the specialist can ask questions to the patient in order to collect data and information useful to formulate the final diagnosis after the visit has been completed. Above all, the specialist may have to be interested in what is the patient’s clinical history, ie if he has had previous breast pathologies such as breast cancer, the presence of pregnancies, the age of the menarche and the regularity of the menstrual cycle or the incidence of menopause or even the familiarity in the case of breast cancer (ie if close relatives such as sisters, mothers, aunts or grandmothers have suffered or not breast cancer) and its lifestyle habits, if it makes use of alcohol, smoking or drugs and if it leads to a more sedentary lifestyle, what kind of diet it takes and so on. After data collection, the senological examination proceeds with the observation and palpation of the breast. The observation serves to control the symmetry, the shape, the size and the profile of both breasts, highlighting any abnormalities such as swelling or redness, while the palpation is then proceeded by delicate maneuvers to detect any nodules and their mobility, if there is edema in the breasts and then completing the visit with the observation of the nipple and the areola to check for any indentations or suspicious thickening.

Mammography & Screening

State of the Art Technology

High Level of Diagnostic Reliability

The Centre of the Breast Diagnostics at the Ruesch Clinic has modern and innovative equipment, that ensures that precise examinations, using the best technology available today, can be carried out in one visit and with one dedicated radiologist.

A breast screening examination can include a variety the following proceedures:

1. Mammography with direct digital tomosynthesis 3D

2. Doppler Ultrasound

3. Elastosonography

4. FNAB (Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy)

The mammography with direct digital tomosynthesis 3D, can have significant ADVANTAGES for the patient:

• Excellent quality of the image to ensure a high level of diagnostic reliability

• Outstanding definition of the dense parts of the breasts

• Possibility to immediately & directly compare with previous test results

Along with the Doppler ultrasound, which is often already sufficient to obtain a precise diagnosis, we also use an elastosonography that adds additional diagnostic elements and notably reduces the the need to move to more invasive tests.

With the precise and accurate diagnosis, the patient can discuss their case with their personal doctor or if they prefer, they can begin a consultation with one of the surgical breast specialists at the Ruesch Clinic.

Any emergency situations will be dealt with straight away by the staff at the clinic.

Other breast diagnostic examinations:

Evaluation of microcalcification, galactography, elastosonography, breast test resports, echo guided biopsies, breast ultrasound scanning.

Contacts:

T. +39 081.7178.451

accettazione.diagnostica@clinicaruesch.it

Insights

Mammography: what is it and when is it done?

Mammography is a preventive test useful for the diagnosis of neoplastic lesions of the breast and is not a test that the woman frequently needs, in fact the recommended frequency is two years and should not be exceeded in the case of young patients who do not require a mammogram or the detection of false positives.

In fact, mammography is an exam that must be done at least after 35 years of age. In fact, before this age threshold, it is highly probable that you may incur innocuous cysts and benign nodules that can alarm you however when they are discovered.

However, in general the mammogram is an examination that is recommended at the age of 40, but sometimes delayed even up to fifty years of age, or the threshold that is taken into account because you approach the menopause . The beginning of the menopause, in fact, is the one that often shows a higher incidence in the appearance of breast cancer lesions.

As we anticipated, the cadence of the mammogram is two years and it is the most correct frequency so that we can have a precise monitoring and we can identify the presence of neoplasia in a quick time, and moreover it is an exam that can be of great help even in the early diagnosis of breast cancer and that help to solve and cure it in more than 90% of diagnosed cases.

Mammography is a test that is recommended even after forty years, especially if there have been cases of cancer in the family, while if there were no inheritance dangers you can continue to go up to that age threshold with the normal Senological examination and mammary ultrasound. Breast ultrasound is neither an invasive nor painful test and does not pose any risk to health since there are several low-dose mammography techniques present today.

To limit the discomfort that may arise with breast compression it is preferable, however, to make an appointment for a mammogram at least in the first fifteen days of the cycle, days when the breasts are more relaxed and less sensitive.

Breast ultrasound: when and how?

The ultrasound examination of the breast is performed as a first-choice examination, usually accompanied by a breast examination in women under the age of forty. After this age threshold, the ultrasound examination instead plays a role of accompaniment to the mammogram in case the images given by the latter can be of dubious interpretation and need further clarifications that can be given by ultrasound investigations. The mammary ultrasound, in fact, plays a fundamental role in the study of the breast during pregnancy, in traumas and in the presence of inflammatory states of the breast.

Biopsy and needle aspiration

These techniques are used in the case that both mammography and ultrasound have not given any certainty about the nature of a suspicious nodule, thus making more detailed investigations involving the collection of cells from the affected site necessary.

The needle aspiration therefore incorporates a part of the cells that are then analyzed but if this still does not suffice, it will pass to a biopsy. A biopsy is a sampling of a small section of tissue that will then be subjected to histological examinations.

At the end of the examinations carried out it will be possible to conclude with a diagnosis on the pathology of the patient and whether to intervene surgically or not.

Senological Diagnosis Naples

We provide the best diagnostic services for all patients, also from neighboring cities, who want to reserve the best specialists and the best technologies for their health care.