OGDENSBURG -- A report from the Richard E. Winter Cancer Treatment Center says their numbers of patients with stage four breast cancer diagnoses are on the rise.

Furthermore, the center says not many of those diagnosed had regular mammograms.

Each year, Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center’s Cancer Committee initiates a cancer-related study. For 2016, the committee decided to look at late stage breast cancers as they say there seems to be an upward trend of more stage four breast cancer diagnoses over the past couple of years. The study focused on patients with a stage four diagnoses and their breast cancer screening patterns.

The criteria evaluation for the study was to review five years of data for stage four breast cancer patients treated at the Winter center. Beginning in 2011, there were three patients, one patient in 2012, two in 2013, six in each of 2014 and 2015.

“The five year history did show an increase in the stage IV breast cancer patients treated at the cancer center,” a news release from CHMC said.

In a previous study, they looked at all of their breast cancer patients screening history, regardless of their cancer stage, and it was similar to the national average.

When summarizing the study data, they found that 17 percent of stage four breast cancer patients who were diagnosed at the facility had regular mammograms prior to their diagnosis. Seventy-eight percent had not had regular screening mammograms.

“This data confirms the value of mammography screening for women and verifies our belief that without having regular screening mammograms, a woman’s disease is often not caught at an earlier, more treatable stage,” according to Kay Zimmer, Kay Zimmer, breast cancer navigator at the Winter center.

Claxton-Hepburn and the center say they want to improve these numbers. The center has hired a new mammography patient navigator, Ashley Peggs, to work on increasing screening mammogram rates in our region. Her job will be to partner with insurance companies and medical systems to identify women who are eligible for screening mammograms but not receiving them. She will also work with the women to overcome barriers to obtaining their mammogram.

“I will use education and supportive resources to meet the needs of women to ensure every eligible woman gets screened,” Peggs said in a prepared statement.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 33 percent of eligible women in the U.S. do not get screening mammograms.

“It is vital to diagnose breast cancer in its earliest stages in order to provide curative treatment for patients,” the release says. “Being diagnosed in the earliest stages of breast cancer also means that patients need less aggressive treatment and have a lower risk of dying from their disease.”