My first Mammogram

[Jessika]

Hi all,
Just wanted to say I had my very first mammogram a few days ago and it was easier than I expected.

I got to my appointment, a little nervous but otherwise happy and excited, checked in and waited maybe 10 mins.

I was then called in and walked to the back thru a door with a sign next to it that read "Mammograms". First time I have ever walked into a mammogram room, so exciting.

I was then led to a changing room and told to undress from the waist up, if I had deoderant on to remove it with wipes they supplied.
There was a pink smock with front ties I had to put on so I would not be exposed.

As I walked out into the 2nd waiting area I was led into the xray room and the nurse put two cute little pink bandaid looking strips on my nipples. I guess they cover them in the image so they don't get confused in the results.

Then she carefully positioned each breast on the "slab" and I had to twist around to get the best position. The plastic guides were lowered and pressed my breast down and to my surprise it did not hurt at all, just felt a little pressure. If you would have tried to push the nipple area, you'd have claw marks on you. lol

She took horizontal and vertical pics which totalled 4 pictures. Easy and fast and I got the results within 10 mins.

Results were good and they recommended at my age (49) I would not need the next mammogram until 55. That kinda surprised me as I always thought it was yearly.
We'll see how things go.

After it was all done, I drove home and had a wonderful day knowing I had my very first Mammogram.

*hugs*   

Jessika

[AnonyMs]

I so don't want to do this. I'm still presenting male.

I supposed I got to...

[noleen111]

Never had the pleasure of a mammogram yet.. doesn't sound too bad.

[KayXo]

Results were good and they recommended at my age (49) I would not need the next mammogram until 55. That kinda surprised me as I always thought it was yearly.

- Breast cancer is extremely rare in transwomen (around 4 per 100,000 person-years of follow-up), estimated to be much closer to the rate seen in men not taking HRT (1 in 100,000) vs ciswomen (170 per 100,000). There have only been 17 cases reported in transsexual women since the 1960's. Are men recommended to take mammograms? Do they regularly take mammograms?

- Ciswomen are exposed to significant amounts of estrogen for a far longer time than you. Say you've been on estrogen for 10 yrs, are 20 yr old women asked to get mammograms? No.

- Ciswomen have hundreds of menstrual cycles throughout their lives with hormones fluctuating from high to low. This is not normally the case in transwomen where a more constant dose is taken throughout their lives. The number of cycles have been positively associated with the risk of breast cancer with nuns as compared to parous women (less cycles due to pregnancy and breastfeeding) having a much higher incidence of breast cancer.

- Ciswomen's risk of breast cancer increases after the age of 40-50 yrs old when estrogen levels drop. Bio-identical E has been found in randomized controlled trials to decrease breast cancer incidence. All this suggests a protective effect of E. If you are still taking E, your situation is very different and need not necessarily require a mammogram.

- Mammograms expose the breast to radiation.

Given your specific circumstances as a transsexual woman and the risk associated with a mammogram, one should perhaps reevaluate the need for you to pass a mammogram. You could perhaps bring this up with your doctor who may be unaware of some of these things and/or maybe forgot to consider how different your circumstances are from that of a ciswoman.

[Cindy]

Medical opinion is for transgender women over 50 to have a mammogram every five years the same as cisfemales. If you have a familial history of breast cancer, mother, sisters, grandmother etc having breast cancer you should also be considering BRACA testing.
Here both are offered free to transgender women, the same as for cisfemales.

[KayXo]

Medical opinion is for transgender women over 50 to have a mammogram every five years the same as cisfemales

I question their recommendation based on the above mentioned reasons which I think are quite valid. I believe I have the right to disagree and express my opinions on the subject even though I'm not a doctor. After all, I am the one who will be taking the mammogram and exposing my breasts to radiation.

If you have a familial history of breast cancer, mother, sisters, grandmother etc having breast cancer you should also be considering BRACA testing.

As I pointed out, the risk of breast cancer differs from ciswomen.

Here both are offered free to transgender women, the same as for cisfemales.

A mammogram still exposes the breast to radiation, regardless of cost.

[Cindy]

Feel free to live your life to your own opinion.

Medical opinion is as stated.

In my home town I know 2 transgender women with breast cancer. Considering the comparatively small number of transgender women that is a high number.
All women should also examine themselves for lumps or changes in breast tissue monthly. If you are unsure how to do that ask your family doctor.

[KayXo]

Feel free to live your life to your own opinion.

In my home town I know 2 transgender women with breast cancer. Considering the comparatively small number of transgender women that is a high number.

It's not an opinion. It's a statement based on several studies where authors revealed breast cancer incidence to be very low in transsexual women, close to that of men not on HRT. Are men asked to undergo mammograms?

J Sex Med. 2013 Dec;10(12):3129-34.

"We researched the occurrence of breast cancer among transsexual persons 18-80 years with an exposure to cross-sex hormones between 5 to >30 years. Our study included 2,307 male-to-female (MtF) transsexual persons undergoing androgen deprivation and estrogen administration (52,370 person-years of exposure)"

"Among MtF individuals one case was encountered, as well as a probable but not proven second case."

"The incidence rate of breast cancer in our MtF cohort was thereby 4.1 per 100,000 person-years (i.e., two cases divided by the total amount of 49,370 person-years of follow-up). The 95% confidence interval of the incidence ranged from 0.8 to 13.0 per 100,000 patient-years. For comparison, the calculated expected incidence of breast cancer in biologic women would be 170.0 per 100,000 person-years of follow-up. In our sample, the one or possibly two incident cases of breast cancer in MtF subjects more closely approximate the expected incidence of breast cancer of 1.2 per 100,000 patient-years that would occur in biologic men."

"The number of people studied and duration of hormone exposure are limited but it would appear that cross-sex hormone administration does not increase the risk of breast cancer development, in either MtF or FtM transsexual individuals. Breast carcinoma incidences in both groups are comparable to male breast cancers. Cross-sex hormone treatment of transsexual subjects does not seem to be associated with an increased risk of malignant breast development."

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2015 Jan;149(1):191-8.

"The purpose of the study was to examine the incidence of breast cancer in the largest North American sample of TG patients studied to date to determine their exposure to CSH, incidence of breast cancer, and to compare results with European studies in transsexual populations. We used Veterans Health Administration (VHA) data from 5,135 TG veterans in the United States from 1996 to 2013 to determine the incidence of breast cancer in this population."

"Ten breast cancer cases were confirmed. Seven were in female-to-male patients, two in male-to-female patients, and one in a natal male with transvestic fetishism."

3 cases out of 3,556 transsexual women as is indicated in the full article. An incidence rate of 0.08%.

Journal of Clinical & Translational Endocrinology 2 (2015) 55-60

"There is no increase in cancer prevalence or mortality due to transgender HT."

"While some guidelines for transgender medical care express concerns for elevated cancer risk with certain hormone regimes, current data suggest that the risk of cancer may not rise."

"Although studies are small, overall cancer incidence in transgender men and transgender women to-date has not been found to be different than their respective male and female controls [5]. There are no reports of change in breast cancer specific risk among transgender individuals on estrogen compared to secular trends of male breast cancer incidence. Rates are lower relative to secular trends of female breast cancer rates."

"Additionally, there are ten case reports of breast cancer development among MTF individuals on estrogen since 1968"

Again, I urge you to consider, in addition to the above... do we ask ciswomen exposed to estrogen for 1-35 yrs to undergo mammograms? No. So why the recommendation in transwomen exposed to estrogen for the same amount of years? Makes no sense, in my opinion.

The situation is different, in so many respects, for transwomen. Mammograms expose the breast to radiation.

All women should also examine themselves for lumps or changes in breast tissue monthly. If you are unsure how to do that ask your family doctor.

I agree. This is a better, less invasive form of monitoring. This alone, in my opinion, should suffice as long as we are explained in detail how to do this or we can have the doctor do this for us on a yearly basis.

[Lady_Oracle]

Since I'm still relatively young my docs recommended that not to get one until my late 30s or so unless of course I feel lumps or whatever then get checked immediately obviously. I stay constant with breast checks and I also get checked yearly during my physicals. So yay I don't have to deal with that dreaded boob squish machine till much later 

[Jessika]

Thank you all for your replies.

I do not really care for a detailed debate of statistics as we all are different and we alone will determine what is best for us.

I was merely making a post about how happy I was to get my first one done and over with. 

[KayXo]

I do not really care for a detailed debate of statistics as we all are different and we alone will determine what is best for us.

Will just say that when we are well-informed, it is in our interest, as it helps us arrive at a better decision.

I was merely making a post about how happy I was to get my first one done and over with. 

Congrats! But I couldn't help myself from passing on this information as I believe it to be valuable to us. Transsexual women should be made aware instead of being kept in the dark.