Dr Öncel Yakar’s comments

Films and reports of imaging examinations performed during routine scans must be kept and presented at each examination. In the event of a change in the institution or doctor where screening or treatment is applied, previous examinations will be useful to your doctor and therefore to you in terms of the interpretation of an abnormal finding. For example, the approach to a mass that has been the same size for years and a mass that has doubled in 6 months, of course, differs.

Breast health plays an important role in every woman’s life. This is based on the facts that breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and that early diagnosis and treatment significantly increase life expectancy thanks to screening methods. While stricter follow-up and examination protocols are applied for women with certain risk factors, women with no risk factors should also have breast screenings regularly. Standard breast screening guidelines recommend that women should perform breast self-examination from the age of 20, and additionally, from the age of 40, breast imaging with clinical examination and mammography once a year. In this section, especially in the twenty-fifth year of her profession and as a female surgeon, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Didem Öncel Yakar answers questions frequently asked by you. We are with you to manage your routine annual screenings and appropriate examination-surgery-treatment processes at our private practice located in Ataşehir-Istanbul.