October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Knoxville Hospital and Clinics is reminding women of the importance of mammograms.

According to the mammography department at KHC, they recommend women start to get annual mammograms when they turn 40-years-old. The importance of these yearly scans is to provide early breast cancer detection, and it gives women the best chance of fighting the disease if diagnosed. A lump can be detected on a mammogram one-to-three years before it can be felt.

KHC says women can reduce their chances of breast cancer by avoiding smoking, eating healthy, maintaining a healthy weight, and avoiding birth control over the age of 35. According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, in 2024 roughly 313,000 women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 42,000 will die from the disease. Angela Lund in the mammography department at KHC says to not let the fear of these scans deter you from taking the life saving measure. 

“I can assure you that things have changed so much over the years. Technology really does get better especially in the medical field. Although compression is very important we are not here to torture anybody we’re just here to get good images. It doesn’t require the amount of compression that it once did many years ago. We’re able to modify different things to still get optimal images. I just say to come in with an open mind and don’t let the fear of others saying how awful it is to stop you from getting one.”

Hear more from Lund about breast cancer awareness on an upcoming Let’s Talk Knoxville.