'Just go get it done.' WNBA legend encourages early breast cancer screenings
WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes and a breast imaging radiologist highlight how artificial intelligence and 3D mammograms are revolutionizing early breast cancer detection during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
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WNBA legend and three-time Olympic gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes is using her personal experience to encourage women not to delay lifesaving breast cancer screenings during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
New technologies, like artificial intelligence, have changed how cancer is detected - and doctors say that early testing can make all the difference.
Swoopes says she has faced some of the toughest opponents on the court, but off the court, she's faced an even fiercer competitor - eight of her family members died from cancer.
"I've lost aunts to breast cancer, uncles to prostate cancer, lost my mom to colon cancer," she says.
Swoopes says that like many women, life got in the way of getting screened, despite that history.
She finally got her first mammogram at 52.
"She came back in and she was like Dr. A...saw something she didn't like... and my heart stopped," says Swoopes.
A biopsy later showed she was cancer free, but the experience introduced her to technology changing how breast cancer is detected.
Doctors are now using artificial intelligence alongside 3D mammograms to help spot cancers earlier.
"We've increased cancer detection rate by over 20%, so artificial intelligence just makes a radiologist like myself do a much better job," says Dr. Senayet Agonafer .
Agonafer, a breast imaging radiologist at Lenox Hill Radiology, says AI is also helping doctors find cancers in women with dense breast tissue, where tumors can be harder to see on traditional mammograms.
"Traditionally, we use supplemental tools, such as ultrasound to help us detect breast cancers more easily. But what we're seeing is with artificial intelligence, the AI system can actually pick up breast cancers in patients with dense breast that we would otherwise not see," says Agonafer. "At this point, I wouldn't get a mammogram myself without our artificial intelligence."
For Swoopes, the key takeaway for other women is straightforward:
"It's OK to be scared, but just go get it done," she says.
