AMA Policies on Breast Cancer

The AMA supports public education efforts to help women recognize their important role in breast self-examination and to encourage them to report immediately to their physicians any changes that they notice. The AMA encourages physicians to educate their patients in the process of breast cancer detection, emphasizing the technique of self-examination of their breasts. Physicians requesting mammographic examinations should refer their patients to radiologists who use properly functioning equipment that provides the best image resolution at the lowest level of radiation exposure (less than one rad to mid breast for two views of both breasts). Physicians are encouraged to recognize the importance of mammography as an effective screening device to detect early breast cancer. The AMA encourages pharmaceutical companies to include in the packaging of their contraceptives, and all female hygiene products, materials which promote the package and correct techniques of breast self-examination, and which stress the importance of physician breast examinations and appropriate use of screening mammography.