Q. I have new pain in my left breast. I heard that since I have no risk factors for breast cancer, I can ignore it. I had to insist on getting a mammogram. Did I do the right thing?

A. Yes, I think you did the right thing. Your doctor is correct in that most breast pain is not a reflection of breast cancer. But I also think that risk factors have nothing to do with whether you should pursue investigating a new breast symptom with mammograms and/or sonograms, depending on the individual.

Risk factors to prompt additional management such as a breast MRI only help us when they are elevated. If a woman has normal risk factors (the lay term of “no risk factors”), that does not help because 75 to 80 percent of women who get breast cancer have no identifiable risk factors. So if you have a new symptom, please get it checked out.

With regard to new onset breast pain, if it is on both sides, relatively diffuse and intermittent, then I think you would probably be OK, and you can start with getting a routine yearly screening mammogram (friends don’t let friends skip years).

If it is new onset pain, and on one side, especially if you can point to the area of new pain, then I think it is worth an extra level of evaluation after your mammogram – usually I add a physical exam and a sonogram.

Michael J. Ulissey, M.D., is a partner at the Breast Diagnostic Centers of Auburn and Federal Way. In addition to taking care of patients locally, he continues to participate in research as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center.